


In the Shade of a Sakura Tree

by AlmostLover321



Category: Kyou Kara Maou!
Genre: Everyone is in it, Literally everyone - Freeform, M/M, Meiline (OC) is Wolfram's half sister, OC named Meiline who is important to story line, Slow Build, Yuuri is a bit dense, a few other OCs pop up and make short appearances, and i mean very slow, becomes less and less about school life, dramatic back stories because OC is a bit dramatic, no one is a demon, plot is similar to canon except there is no magic, pushy Wolfram, some are only mentioned on side
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-07-12 03:34:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7083967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmostLover321/pseuds/AlmostLover321
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. A new school has just been built and Yuuri's been accepted. How? He doesn't know, but this school is full of strange foreigners that he seems to know. He just can't remember who they are or their connection to him. Little does he know, his acceptance will lead him to something much bigger than he ever expected his life to become. ALSO ON fanfiction.net WITH SAME USERNAME AND TITLE</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Julia Academy

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic is also on fanfiction.net. I decided to also upload here since I tend to read more fics from here. I already have the first 21 chapters posted on ff, but I will be uploading chapters here once a week until I catch up then it will be a very irregular upload schedule until this story is finished. If you want to read ahead to chapter 21, it has the same title and I have the same username of ff

I rounded the corner and came face to face with my new worst nightmare, Julia Academy. A week after school let out for summer vacation, I received a letter in the mail from Julia Academy, asking me to transfer to their school. Mom (“Call me mama, Yuu-chan.”) was absolutely thrilled, but I only glared at the letter with suspicion. This must be some sort of cruel joke to make fun of me.

They had just finished building the school about a year ago. It was only a ten minute walk from my house. While they were in the midst of construction, many rumors sprung up at my school, especially from the gossiping girls in my class. Apparently, it was supposed to become a very elite school that would accept kids in all grades from all over the world.

A article was placed in the newspaper the day of its official opening. The article stated the academy was named after a woman who wanted to build her own school, but she died because of illness before she could achieve this task. It further explained that her brother decided to finalize the plans she left behind. I skimmed over the rest of the article. It mentioned that the woman, Julia von Wincott, wanted to build the school here in Japan because she loved Japanese culture and she wanted to share the culture with all her students. I glanced back up at the top of the article where there was a black and white picture of a beautiful, young woman. It was a shame the picture wasn’t colored.

I stared up at the academy. Even though it was the middle of summer vacation, it sure didn’t look like it. Some students were roaming around the campus in shorts and tank tops, fanning themselves and others while sweat dripped off their skin. There was a huge assortment of people here. Some were little kids, running around and playing tag while others were sophisticated teenagers who gossiped under the shade of a sakura tree. Blondes, brunettes, and red heads filled the school grounds. I also saw others who had almost unrealistic hair colors. A girl that looked as if her hair was green walked past me and gave me a gentle smile. None of these people looked Japanese. I wonder if that means they weren’t going home for vacation. I tore my gaze away from the school ground and looked down the street.

My childhood friend, Murata Ken, was supposed to show me around the school. My mom (“It’s mama.”) had arranged it while I was at baseball practice. Murata’s been a student at this academy since it opened. I suspected he would be accepted. That brings me to Murata’s strange behavior. When I showed him the letter, I expected some sort of joke to slip out of his mouth, but he just smiled. Ever since he entered this academy, he keeps flashing a knowing smile. He’s always been like that since I first met him, but it’s really noticeable now.

“Shibuya!” I heard Murata’s voice call out.

I turned to see Murata racing down the street towards me with three rough-looking delinquents chasing after him. A groan escaped my lips. Murata’s always getting himself in trouble with bullies. I refuse to interfere today, though. I still haven’t forgotten about the trip to the bathroom a couple weeks ago. I had passed out and woke up to find a crowd of people surrounding me, including Murata. My classmates from school were still cracking toilet jokes when I happen across them. I don’t know which is worse, the Harajuku Furi cliché or those stupid toilet jokes.

“Are you three trying to cause trouble?” a voice asked from somewhere.

A man was sitting on top of the brick wall in front of the academy. He had the brightest orange hair I’ve ever seen. He jumped down from the wall and landed in between Murata and the three delinquents. Murata waved at the man before closing the distance between us, grabbing my arm, and pulling me within the school grounds. Several faces turned in our direction and stared curiously. A couple of people waved. They must’ve known Murata. A beautiful blonde was walking toward us.

“Hello Wolfram,” Murata said cheerfully.

The blonde quickly glared at him before setting his glare upon me. He stormed passed us and left the school grounds. I glanced around to see people whispering. I shifted my gaze to Murata who shrugged his shoulders. Was it odd for the blonde to act like that? 

I ignored the whispers and caught sight of a person standing in front of the academy’s entrance with a worried expression plastered on their face. This person (I honestly couldn’t tell if the person was a he or a she) looked almost identical to the woman from that article in the newspaper. I approached the person, but their gaze seemed to be staring into the distance. A frown loomed on their lips.

“Um. Excuse me,” I said as Murata appeared at my side.

The person’s gaze snapped toward me and they gave a weak smile. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Mr. von Wincott. Is something wrong?” Murata responded.

The frown returned. “I can’t find Lindsey. I told him to stay close, but he seems to have run off somewhere. He knows better than to leave the grounds.”

“Lindsey’s your son, right? Greta stayed for summer vacation. Maybe he’s playing with her or he could possibly be with Anissina,” Murata suggested, shivering towards the end.

“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that. Thank you,” Mr. von Wincott said, sighing in relief. “ By the way, you shouldn’t call your teachers by their first names.”

“Miss von Karbelnikoff, then. Anyway, I’m here to show around Shibuya,” Murata replied, gesturing towards me.

“Ah. Mr. Shibuya. Yes. The possible transfer student. Welcome. I’m the headmaster, Delchias von Wincott. If you have any questions, feel free to come to my office,” he said, smiling. “And, in the future, if you happen across my son, will you send him to my office?”

I nodded as he turned back in the school. I glanced back at the students scattered across the grass to see the blonde had returned. He was glaring at me, but as soon as his eyes caught mine, he looked away. He was really beautiful. It seemed impossible that he could actually be human. Murata broke me out of my trance as he pushed me into the school to start my tour.


	2. The Labyrinth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exploration of Julia Academy, introduction of characters (Anissina), and Shinou is behind it all again

The school was huge! It looked big from the outside, but the inside looked enormous and everything looked expensive; expensive enough for the rich to think it looked expensive. I stared in awe at everything Murata led me through. There were so many hallways that the map I tried to draw in my head looked like a labyrinth. I was led past classroom after classroom. Murata would mutter little things about the classrooms like what grade occupied them and who the teachers were. He finally slowed his pace as we reached the classrooms for our grade. He pointed out his classroom and then pointed at my would-be classroom down the hall a little ways past a door that looked as if fog was seeping out of it from the cracks. As we approached the door, Murata hastily pushed me past it. We stopped in front of my would-be classroom a few yards away from the peculiar door.

“Murata, what is that?” I asked, pointing at the door.

“Shibuya, some things are better left unsaid,” Murata replied, situating his glasses.

I stared at him, glanced over at the foggy door, and returned my gaze upon Murata.

He sighed. “That’s the chemistry lab. Anissina...er...Miss von Karbelnikoff, our science teacher, spends most of her time in there. If you know what’s best for yourself, you’ll stay away. Being An- Miss von Karbelnikoff’s guinea pig is something no one should even wish on their worst enemy.”

Suddenly, the foggy door slammed open. A man with a long, dark grey ponytail burst out of the room running down the hallway toward us at full speed. As he passed us, I glanced back at the newly opened door. A man that looked like a model with lavender hair (Lavender? Is it really real or is it dyed? If it’s real, where were they born?) stumbled from the room and almost immediately collapsed to the floor. A woman with long pinkish red hair (Seriously! First, green. Then, lavender. Now this! What’s next? A kid with white hair?) pulled back in a ponytail peeked out into the hallway. A smile crept on her lips as she caught sight of us. I did not like the glint in her eyes. I felt chills travel down my spine. She ran towards us and Murata slightly cringed. Could she really be that bad?

“You saw him, right? Which way did Gwendal go, Ken? Don’t even think about lying. If you do, I’ll have to use you,” she said, widening her smile.

Without hesitation, Murata and I pointed down the hallway behind us. I don’t know if this lady is as bad as Murata acts like she is, but something tells me questioning it would be a bad idea. We watched her disappear down the hallway, looking every direction. She almost looked like a little kid playing hide-and-go-seek.

“Ken?” I asked, remembering the lady, Miss von Karbelnikoff, calling him by his first name.

“I go by my first name here since every other student here does. Anissina is the only teacher that calls by first name, though,” Murata replied.

“She seems...” I start, but trail off for loss of words.

“Like an energetic demon,” Murata suggested.

I nodded, hoping that man named Gwendal would escape. No doubt about it, Miss von Karbelnikoff is dangerous to be around. I’ll have to remember to stay away. A loud boom filled the hallways, followed by a scream. Murata laughed nervously and pulled me into the classroom. To our surprise, someone was already in the classroom. A boy (?) with long white blonde hair occupied one of the desks. He glanced up at us. A pair of sunglasses were positioned on his nose. He smiled, stood up, slipped past us, and left the room. As the boy closed the door, I caught a glimpse of Miss von Karbelnikoff dragging the man with the dark grey ponytail.

“Uh...Anissina...she’s not that bad. She only acts like that when she’s inventing something. Other than that, she’s not so bad to be around unless she thinks you’re a slacker. Although, Gisela is worse to be around if you’re thought to be a slacker.” Murata paused as if remembering something. “Anissina’s inventions usually fail, but occasionally she’ll invent something that actually works.”

“Inventions?” I questioned, wandering why she was using the chemistry lab.

“Yeah. She’s not a chemist, but an inventor,” Murata pointed out.

“Then, why the chemistry lab?” I asked.

“It was always empty. There’s another one on the second floor that everyone uses. No one has used that one since the academy first opened. From some rumors I’ve heard, within the first week of school, a weird smell poured from that room. A girl in my class told me they saw Mr. von Christ, that lavender-haired guy from earlier, mixing something together at that time. I doubt it’s true. Why would a history teacher be mixing chemicals?” Murata explained, pulling on that smile of his.

I ignored this. “What kind of inventions?”

Murata replied with a nervous laugh. “Like I said, some things are better left unsaid.”

He left the room having said that and I chased after him. He showed me many other places, including the cafeteria, where four cooks, named Effe, Doria, Lasagna, and Sangria, were ready to prepare anything you wanted at any time you asked, the library which was one of the biggest rooms in the school, and the grounds behind the school. There were tennis courts, basketball courts, a track, soccer fields, a swimming pool, and even volleyball courts with sand, but none of those mattered. What mattered was the baseball field that laid before me. This school really was amazing. Words could not even begin to describe this place. Murata was amidst listing all the sports and clubs the school had, but my thoughts droned out his voice. I always thought Julia Academy was solely on academics and didn’t have sports. What the heck? I need to stop listening to rumors. Ah! What am I going to do now? I wasn’t even planning on transferring to this school all because of that. What should I do now that my reason to decline is gone? I don’t want to leave my friends and teammates, but Shori mentioned having an opportunity to attend a school like this doesn’t happen every day. It’s not like I’ll never see the others ever again. This opportunity stills bugs me, though. Why me?

“Murata,” I said, interrupting his continuous list.

“What?” he asked.

“I want to talk to Mr. von Wincott,” I answered.

Murata stared at me for a moment and I could swear I saw his glasses flash when his knowing smile spread across his lips. “I’ll show you to his office then.”

Instead of going back in the back doors we came out of, we walked around the side of the school. Along the way, Murata pointed out the dorm buildings. He indicated which building contained what age group and gender. We passed a playground for the little kids. Two teenagers occupied a pair of swings. One was the green-haired girl that smiled at me before. The other was a bald guy who seemed to tense up whenever the green-haired girl opened her mouth. Soon, we in front of the school again. I was shocked to see that the grounds had almost completely emptied. There was still a small group assembled under the sakura tree. They consisted of three young kids and the glaring blonde, but...he was smiling. He looked like an angel. I could literally feel my heart skip a beat. Wait! What?! Gah!!! What am I thinking?! He’s a boy! He might be extraordinarily beautiful and angelic at glance, but something about him makes me shudder. He glanced up when he finally noticed our presence. The glared reappeared. Yep. There goes the angel.

“Ah! Lindsey!” Murata called out.

One of the little kids turned around. I was surprised by the kid’s looks to be bluntly honest. I didn’t see much resemblance with his father. I wonder what Mrs. von Wincott looks like. Murata walked over to the group. I froze. I looked over at...what was his name...oh, yeah...Wolfram and saw his glare intensify as if daring me to move any closer. Okay...so joining Murata is a bad idea. I took a step backward and Wolfram frowned. Huh? He...frowned.

“Uh. Murata, I’m going ahead!” I yelled.

“But you’ll get lost Shibuya!” Murata yelled back.

I ignored him and raced through the school’s front doors. He was probably right. The labyrinth in my head looks like nothing, but a headache and I just walked through the front doors. The office should be somewhere around here at the front of the school. My eyes darted around in every direction in search for a sign. I small hand tugged on mine. A young girl with short, curly brown hair smiled up at me.

“I’m Greta,” she said, pulling me to the right.

“I’m...” I started to say.

“Ken already told me, Yuuri,” she interrupted.

Greta let go of my hand in front of a pair of oak double doors. Beside this door, on a plaque, Headmaster von Wincott was scrawled in gold lettering. I was about to thank Greta, but she was already walking through the doors. Mr. von Wincott looked up from his papers and smiled gently.

“Sorry, sir. Lindesy’s been with me,” Greta apologized.

“Oh. Don’t worry about it too much,” Mr. von Wincott replied, hiding clear relief.

Greta bowed her head and turned to me. “We should hang out next time, Yuuri.” She paused. “Wolfram doesn’t hate you,” she whispered and disappeared through the doors.

“Wolfram?” Mr. von Wincott questioned.

I turned back to him and shrugged. “It’s nothing...”

Mr. von Wincott stared at me for a minute before gesturing towards the chairs across from him.

“Uh. This won’t take long. I just wanted to know why I was asked to come to this school,” I said.

Mr. von Wincott fidgeted in his seat. “Well...I wasn’t the one who sent you the letter,” he replied calmly.

“Huh?” I questioned.

“Shinou sent you the letter,” he said.

“Who’s Shinou?” I asked.

Mr. von Wincott pursed his lips. “He’s someone higher than me.”

I stared at him and waited for an explanation to come, but it never did. I bowed and turned to leave. I opened the door and glanced back at Mr. von Wincott. His mouth hung open like he wanted to say something, but he closed his mouth when his eyes caught mine and went back to whatever he was doing before we interrupted him. I luckily and surprisingly found my way out of the school. Greta returned to the sakura tree. Murata definitely must have sent her. Gee. You’re so thoughtful, Murata. You don’t even trust your own friend to find his own way Murata was no longer by the sakura tree...and neither was Wolfram. I looked around and found them both standing by the gate. Wolfram looked as if he was smelling something revolting. I cautiously joined the two, but ignored Wolfram’s presence. He immediately left the ground in the same direction Murata and I were heading. He was about ten feet in front of us. What is his deal? Greta said he didn’t hate me. Maybe she was saying that to make me feel better, but that wasn’t the itch that was driving me insane at the moment. It was the itch out of reach, this Shinou guy.

“Hey, Murata. When I asked Mr. von Wincott why this school wants me, he mentioned a guy named Shinou. Do you know anyone named that?” I asked.

In front of us, Wolfram spun around. His face read nothing but pure awe. It soon changed to an unreadable expression and finally, into an anger really venomous and surrounded Wolfram with a black aura cloud. His fists were clenched and I swear I saw flames billowing in his eyes and around him. He darted past us at full speed back in the direction of Julia Academy. I turned and gave Murata a questioning look.

“Some things are better left unsaid,” Murata whispered, flashing a knowing smile.

What? What’s going on?!


	3. Two Uniforms, But One School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri's decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha. I'm not uploading these on a regular schedule like I planned, but at least one chapter is going up a week... I think.

“I’m home!” I called out, taking off my shoes.

Murata closed the door behind us. He refused to say anything while we walked home. He only continued to smile with that annoying smile. I was about to ask Murata about everything once again, but I was cut off my the sounds of two pairs of feet running down the stairs. The lighter, fleeting steps came from a girl with slightly wavy, shoulder length, reddish brown hair and the heavier steps came from my older brother, Shori. He had a particularly unhappy expression on his face, but it deepened when he spotted Murata. The girl suddenly slammed herself against me and hugged me tightly.

“Ah! Yuuri! It’s been so long!” she screamed in excitement.

“Um. Not to be rude or anything, but who are you?” I asked.

She pulled away from me and looked me straight in the eyes with her emerald colored eyes. “That’s cold, Yuu loser.” (Note: Loser is in English since they’re technically supposed to be speaking Japanese.)

Only one person ever called me that. “Mei?” (Note: Pronounced like May. Her full first name Meiline is pronounced like May Line)

A smile spread across her face and she pulled me back into the suffocating hug. “I knew you wouldn’t forget me.”

“What are you doing here, friend of my little brother?” Shori asked from somewhere beside me.

“Yuu-chan! Ken-chan! Welcome home!” my mom yelled, running around the corner.

\------------ ------------ ------------

We all sat around the table eating mom’s curry. Mei’s excitement had worn off quickly and she was currently fighting with Shori about something Bob related. Bob was the guardian of Mei and a businessman who bizarrely always wore sunglasses. I know Mei doesn’t have a father anymore and she lived with her uncle for a while before living with her mother for maybe a year. I don’t remember the exact details of how she ended up staying with Bob since it was eight years ago when I was only seven. The anger emitting off Mei at the present moment was deadening, but it reminded me of something or someone. She sighed in defeat and turned her gaze towards the window between Murata and me. She was glaring still. The image of a certain blonde boy I seen earlier with those same enraged, emerald eyes appeared in my mind. Come to think of it, Mei looks quite a bit like him. Wolfram.

“Mei, you have brothers, right?” I asked, breaking the silence.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Murata’s glasses gleam. Mom dropped the spoon that was in her hand. Shori glared at me with a look that clearly said “Shut up!” Mei’s eyes narrowed. Did I say something wrong?

“Yeah, but I don’t talk to them. Why?” she replied after a long pause.

“I...” I started, but what was I going to tell her? I met someone today who glares exactly like you do. He looks similar to you, too. Is he your brother by chance?

“I have to go. I was suppose to meet up with the headmaster fifteen minutes ago,” Mei announced, excusing herself from the table.

“Headmaster?” I questioned after she left the room.

“Meiline’s going to be doing her senior year at Julia Academy,” Shori answered.

“Eh? Really?” I asked.

“That reminds me, Yuu-chan. How was the school?” mom asked, recovering her dropped spoon.

“Oh. Um...it was interesting,” I answered, dropping my eyes to my almost empty plate.

I could imagine the sparkle in her eyes. “You’ll go, Yuu-chan?”

“Of course he’ll go. It is a great opportunity. When I informed Bob, he told me I should insist that Yuuri goes,” Shori commented.

“Bob’s here?” I asked.

“Why wouldn't he be here? Meiline’s here. He wouldn’t let her go off by herself. He’ll be in Japan until Meiline settles in. He’ll go back to Switzerland soon after that,” Shori informed.

“Shibuya, you’re changing the topic,” Murata pointed out.

All three sets of eyes were staring in my direction. Did I want to go to this school? It’s elite so I’ll probably always be at the bottom of the class. The only people I’ll know there is Murata and Mei. At least that’s better than not knowing anybody, but Murata’s not even going to be in my class and Mei is in a different grade. How many people can speak Japanese or can anybody speak it? Well, the teachers today spoke it pretty fluently and Greta did, too. And it’s not like I’ll be away from my friends and I won’t have to give up baseball, but would I have to play against my old team? What should I do?

“Shibuya?” Murata questioned.

\------------ ------------ ------------

Beep. Beep. Beep. I slammed my hand down blindly on my alarm clock in attempt to hit the snooze button, but instead I only succeeded in knocking it off my bedside table. It was the first day of school. I slowly opened my eyes and stared at the two uniforms hanging on my closet door. One was my simple black military style uniform and the other was Julia Academy’s uniform with a short-sleeve, white button-up shirt, a navy blue vest with the school crest embroidered on it on the upper right corner, navy blue tie, and blue pants. The navy blue blazer and long sleeve white button-up shirt were in my closet for when the weather started to get colder. My bedroom door slammed open and Mei stood in the doorway with Murata standing behind her.

“Get up, Yuu loser. Don’t be late for your first day,” Mei said.

“What are you doing here?” I asked sleepily.

“That school might have high class food, but Miko’s food just tastes better,” Mei answered while Murata nodded his head behind her.

I looked back over at the two uniforms. Did I make the right choice? I could possibly change my mind later, right? Mei walked over to my closet door, unhooked the Julia Academy uniform, and threw it at me. She smiled weakly at me and left the room, leaving me alone with Murata. He said nothing and hesitated slightly before turning around and following after Mei, closing the door behind him. Mei’s been trying to hide it, but she’s been acting strange since that day I visited Julia Academy. Murata’s been avoiding being alone with me, too. I’ve been pretending not to notice, but it’s getting more and more obvious with every passing day. I slowly rose out of bed and stretched. I glanced at my old uniform once more before putting on my new one.

Murata and Mei were already eating when I walked down the stairs. Mei was about to eat her last bite of egg when her cell phone started ringing. She glanced down at her cell phone, ate the last bite, and excused herself from the table. She been getting a lot of phone calls recently. A couple days ago, a man called our house asking is she was here. I asked her about it later that day, but she avoided answering my question by quickly changing the topic to Bob leaving for Switzerland. Mei re-entered the room five minutes later.

“Sorry, Yuuri. I forgot I was going to meet up with someone this morning. Darn. I wanted to walk to school with you. I’ll see you later. Bye, Miko,” Mei announced before leaving again, kissing my mom on the cheek.

Not long after, Murata and I were out the door and silently heading towards the school. We were still two blocks away from the school when I noticed a blonde walking in front of us wearing the same uniform. The air surrounding him was noble, but solemn. The loneliness radiating off of him was almost unbearable. The blonde turned into the school gates and I caught a glimpse of the side of his face. Wolfram? We turned into the school gates a minute later and was immediately greeted by Greta and her blonde friend named Beatrice.

“Good morning, Ken, Yuuri,” Greta said, walking past us and toward the sakura tree where a small group had assembled.

I inched closer to the group to see what was going on. I saw Wolfram in the middle of the crowd smiling and laughing. I turned to where Murata should have been, but only to find myself alone.

“Murata’s not a nice friend,” Mei’s voice said from behind, surprising me.

I turned around to see Mei standing there with that green-haired girl and the bald guy. “He’s not that bad...sometimes.”

“Oh. Yuuri, this is Gisela and this is Dacauscos. Guys, this is Yuuri,” Mei said pointing to each of us as she said our names.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Gisela replied, smiling sweetly.

“Same here,” I said.

There was a slight pause. “Well, say something Dacauscos,” Gisela commanded while Dacauscos flinched.

“It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Dacauscos said.

Sir?

“Meet us by the swings for lunch. Okay?” Mei suddenly said.

“Yeah. Alright,” I replied, smiling.

“You better hurry or you’ll be late for class,” Gisela advised as they started to walk off.

Huh? I looked around to find that most people were gone. Even the crowd had dispersed in that small amount of time. I hurriedly walked through the front doors and immediately froze. Murata was supposed to show me where my classroom was again. Suddenly, someone ran into me. I heard the swish of papers and the flop of multiple books hitting the floor. I spun around to find Wolfram sitting on the floor. He glared up at me as he started to collect his things. I bent down to help him. He scowled as I handed him the last of his papers and stood up. Wait. I could ask him where to go. It’s not like I have much of another option.

“Um...” I started.

“What?” Wolfram asked angrily.

“I...um...I’m not quite sure where I’m going,” I replied quietly.

“Humph. You suddenly stop in front of me and make me fall and instead of apologizing like any gentleman would, you ask for directions,” Wolfram snapped.

“Ah. I’m sorry. I just...” I trailed off.

Wolfram continued to glare at me. “What room?”

"Huh?"

"What room?" he repeated, visibly irritated.

“202,” I replied.

Wolfram scowled once again. “Follow me, wimp.”

Wimp? I followed after Wolfram quickly, but he would speed up if the threat of me walking beside him showed. He did remind me of Mei. The way he scowls reminds me of how Mei scowls at Shori when he annoys her and the way they smile looks a lot alike, too. His attitude towards me still bugs me, though, despite what Greta said.

“Wolfram?” I questioned.

“What?” he asked sharply.

I paused not wanting to ask anymore, but Wolfram stopped in front of me and looked back at me. “Er...never mind.”

“You wimp. If you have something to say, say it,” Wolfram said impatiently.

“Don’t call me that!” I shouted and paused. “Did I do something to make you hate me? I mean, I don’t think I could’ve since it’s my first time meeting you, but it seems like you might have a reason to dislike me.”

Wolfram turned full around and his face softened. “You look like someone who took an important person from me,” he answered shortly and forlornly.

“Who was this person?” I asked.

He stared at me briefly before turning around and continuing to walk. That was probably a question I shouldn’t have asked.


	4. I Speak Two Languages!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few things to point out: 
> 
> 1) Shin Makoku exists now. I’m going to make it an island between Japan and Hawaii. Shin Makoku is going to be the only place from the “other world” that exists. Characters like Saralegui from the “other world” are going to be from Shin Makoku since the country of Small Cimaron doesn’t exist. Rather, Cimaron is going to be a territory much like the territories the noble families are in charge of. In other words, Shin Makoku is the country itself and the von Bielefelt territory (etc) and Cimaron are provinces/states. (I hope that it understandable).
> 
> 2) This is more of a reminder so no one gets confused in later chapters. This is an AU story. No characters are actually demons. Everyone is human. If anyone is referred to as a demon (Anissina), it’s just their characteristics.

Wolfram had already turned the corner before I had the chance to move my feet. As I turned the corner, I saw him disappear into a classroom down the hallway. It didn’t matter since I knew where I was now. Murata’s classroom was right across from where I stood and the chemistry lab, if I remembered correctly, was the door past. This time, the door didn’t have the eerie fog seeping out the cracks of the door, but there was a sign above it that read ‘Chemistry Lab 201’. My classroom would be the door after it...which was the classroom Wolfram just walked into. I’m in the same class as him?! I guess that’ll give me a better chance to clear things up between us. He told me he disliked me because I looked like someone who took an important person from him. Is that even a valid reason?

“Oh. You must be Yuuri Shibuya,” a voice said from behind me.

The lavender-haired, model-like man, who I vaguely remember Murata calling Mr. von Christ, stood behind me. “Yes. I’m Yuuri Shibuya. It’s nice to meet you,” I replied, slightly bowing my head.

“Beautiful,” I heard the man whisper.

I looked back up at the man’s face and he had a weird sparkle in his eyes. “Huh?”

“Your hair is as magnificent as the hour of midnight on a cool summer’s night and your eyes are like onyx. A double black. It’s beautiful,” he praised, clasping his hands together in front of his chest.

“Huh?” I repeated, taking a couple steps away from the man.

“In this country, there are several double blacks, but you’re by far the most magnificent,” he continued.

“Günter, you’re scaring him,” Murata sighed, walking out of his classroom.

“Ah. Two magnificent double blacks in my presence,” Mr. von Christ said.

“In Günter’s country, black hair and eyes are extremely rare,” Murata explained.

“Rare?” I questioned.

“Black is the color of nobility,” Murata continued.

Black? “What country is that?”

Günter’s face changed suddenly into great confusion. “Mr. Shibuya, I thought you would know of Shin Makoku since you are speaking the language.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? I’m speaking Japanese,” I replied, as confused as Mr. von Christ.

“No, Shibuya. You’re speaking the Shin Makoku language,” Murata corrected.

I stared at Murata, glanced over at Mr. von Christ, and returned to Murata. “Huh?!”

............... ............... ...............

“Class, this is Yuuri Shibuya. He’ll be joining us,” Mr. von Christ said.

I was still dazed by being told I was speaking another language, but the whispers that broke out brought me back to reality. A few others mumbled greetings. How can there be excitement about getting a new student when the school has only been open for a year? I noticed Wolfram sat at the back of the classroom next to the windows. He was staring out the window with a blank expression on his face. His eyes gave off the impression that he was staring far off into the distance. I tore my eyes away from Wolfram and glanced at everyone else in the classroom. A few of the girls toward the front were smiling at me with a certain flirtatious expression. Girls at my old school never looked at me like that. Most of the guys in the classroom had unreadable expressions.

“Take the empty seat at the back,” Mr. von Christ said, gesturing towards the vacant seat beside Wolfram.

I started walking to the seat when I became aware that everyone was watching me closely. “He’s the one Shinou picked, isn’t he?” I heard someone whisper as I took my seat.

Wolfram didn’t even glance in my direction. After I settled in my seat, I looked up to see everyone’s eyes were still on me, excluding a blonde girl whose eyes were focused upon the blond sitting next to me, staring out the window. Mr. von Christ cleared his throat which caused everyone to return their gazes to the front of the classroom. I caught a slight movement to my right and turned to see a white blond with glasses leaning over towards me.

“I see you’ve decided to come here. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself last time. I’m Saralegui. Call me Sara,” he whispered.

“Last time?” I questioned.

“You came in here last time with the other Japanese from the class over. I believe his name is Ken Murata. It was a couple weeks ago,” Sara replied.

I dug back in my recent memories and saw a smiling Sara before he left this classroom. That was when I saw Anissina dragging that Gwendal guy back to the lab. “Ah. Right.”

............... ............... ...............

The bell rang for lunch break. A group of girls asked me to have lunch with them, but I had to decline. They made me promise to eat with them tomorrow. I left the classroom and walked to the end of the hallway before I stopped. How do I get outside?

“Shibuya!” Murata called out.

I turned around and saw Murata standing outside his classroom with Mei, Gisela, and Dacauscos by his side. Well, this will make everything easier.

............... ............... ...............

“I didn’t know there were going to be so many people here from Shin Makoku. If I would’ve known earlier, I would’ve definitely put up a bigger fight with uncle about attending here,” Mei said with a disgruntled face.

“Well, it should’ve been obvious since Sir Del Kierson von Wincott is a respected man from Shin Makoku and many people admired Lady Susana Julia von Wincott. When it was heard he was opening a school, all the parents were trying to find a way to get their children in,” Dacauscos informed.

Gisela glared at Dacauscos and patted Mei lightly on the shoulder, giving her a smile. “Don’t worry. Most people don’t recognize you. After all, it’s been eight years since most of them last saw you,” Gisela pointed out.

“Shin Makoku?” I questioned, remembering earlier.

The moment those two words slipped from my lips, everyone’s eyes were directed toward me. Everyone, except Murata, gave me a questioning look. Murata, on the other hand, closed his eyes and sighed.

“The country where I was born. The country where you and your family visited frequently for four years ten years ago. The language you are speaking is the Shin Makoku language. Or maybe you are so used to it you possibly forgot? It was a long time ago when you used to visit, but I guess some things can't be forgotten. Well, I don’t mind. I’m never going back there. The only things that could hold me there aren’t there anymore,” Mei replied after a short silence.

“So, I’m really not speaking Japanese,” I mumbled to myself, but Mei heard it.

“Of course you’re not, Yuu loser. You’ve hardly ever spoken Japanese to me.” Mei paused. “Did you really not realize?”

I was at a complete loss for words. How could I be speaking another language and not even knowing it? I looked at Murata, expecting him to tell me everyone was just playing a joke on me. “Murata?”

He sighed again. “You’ve been speaking both languages since before I met you. I’m guessing, but you’ve probably always adjusted to the Shin Makoku language whenever you heard someone speak it. Isn’t your grandma Shibuya a foreigner? She’s from Shin Makoku, right? If that’s the case, you’ve most likely known both languages since you were a toddler.”

I turned to Mei. “So, I used to visit you in Shin Makoku?”

She smiled. “Yeah. Shori never liked your visits. You always ignored him and wanted to play with me so he was always sticking to your parents like glue. I particularly remembered the last visit two years ago before I started living with Bob. I was temporarily staying at my mom’s at the time while my dad was away for work. You upset my little brother when you...” she trailed off.

“When I what?” I asked, eager to hear more.

“Ah. Nothing. Forget it. It was a long time ago.” She paused. “I have to use the restroom,” she said, getting up and leaving with Gisela following after her.

Dacauscos panicked and stood up as if to follow them, but hesitated. He stood perfectly still as if petrified until Mei and Gisela disappeared from view. He collapsed to the ground and laid back completely relaxed.

“If Gisela makes you that tense, why do you hang out with her?” I asked.

Dacauscos immediately became flustered and he sat straight up. “I...she...I...it’s not by choice...kind of,” he mumbled, blushing.

Murata’s glasses gleamed and he opened his mouth to say something, but immediately closed it. He was looking over my shoulders at something. Both Dacauscos and I turned to see where he was looking. An annoyed Wolfram was walking briskly in our direction with the blonde girl from my class following closely at his heels. She caught his arm, but he quickly shook her off. By the time he reached us, he looked fuming mad. Dacauscos’s tension returned and he cowered away.

“Wolfram,” the blonde girl murmured.

“Go away, Elizabeth. I’m busy,” Wolfram snapped, not taking his eyes off me.

The blonde girl frowned and started to retreat. “I’ll go back to the classroom,” she said softly.

Wolfram ignored her and pointed at me. “You! I need to talk to you! Now!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll explain the language thing a little bit. This is one of the things I had to change from my outline. I originally had it so everyone who went to Julia Academy knew Japanese, but when I made it so Shin Makoku exists, I decided to make it so Yuuri knew the Shin Makoku language like he did in the original story. Problem was, how exactly does Yuuri know this language? So I thought about it. Then I remembered Yuuri’s dad (I forget his name at the moment) is from the demon tribe. I thought “Ah-ha!” I’m going to give Yuuri a strict grandmother who’s originally from Shin Makoku who taught him the language. XD


	5. The Picture in the Album

Before I had the chance to reply, I was dragged away from Murata and Dacauscos. What did I do now? Did he realize that not liking me because I look like someone he knew is ridiculous so he decided he’d find something else to hate about me? What could it possibly be? He hasn’t even glanced at me once since this morning. I was dragged to the sakura tree in front of the school where a small group of people were gathered. They ran away when they saw us approaching. Wolfram pushed me behind the tree and away from anyone’s view. Without saying a word to me, he lifted my right hand, looked at it, dropped it, lifted my left hand, looked at it, and dropped it, too. Frustration overpowered the anger that was previously on his face. As quick as the frustrated look came, it disappeared. He tugged on my tie. I had no idea what he was doing and it scared me, but I somehow knew that if I tried to stop him, he’d throw a tantrum. He quickly unbuttoned my top two buttons on my shirt and pulled at the chain around my neck. He stared intently at the ring on the chain. I used to wear it on my hand, but it outgrew my thumb about three years ago.

“I knew it,” Wolfram whispered.

“What?” I asked.

“It is you. I was thinking about everything and it suddenly came to me, but I couldn’t be sure. That was, until I saw you with her. I knew it. Only you could have that ring,” Wolfram said with an unreadable expression.

I had no idea how to reply. What was he talking about? “Um...”

“Don’t tell me you truly forgot everything, you wimp,” Wolfram snapped.

I said nothing.

“Unbelievable! You...you...argh! I can’t believe you!” Wolfram yelled.

I opened my mouth to apologize for forgetting whatever I forgot, but Wolfram stormed away. I watched him go into the school before I noticed Murata was standing next to me. We looked at each other and then back at the school.

“I never noticed that before,” Murata said, pointing at the ring.

“This? I’ve had it for a long time,” I replied, examining the ring.

“Where’d you get it?” Murata asked, a gleam on his glasses.

I opened my mouth to reply, but found I had none. I felt like I knew, but I couldn’t quite acquire the information. Where did I get it? And why did I wear it every day? “I can’t remember,” I muttered, answering both Murata and myself.

“We should get going, Shibuya. Class is going to start soon,” Murata said.

As soon as I go home, I need to ask mom. What is going on? First, I speak two languages, then, Mei left me wondering about the past and now, Wolfram is obsessing about my ring which I can’t remember anything about. Nothing was bothering me before now. Maybe I shouldn’t have changed schools. Is it too late to switch back?

............... ............... ...............

“I’m home!” I yelled, closing the door behind me.

No answer came. I walked into the kitchen, expecting mom to be there, but it was empty. There was a note on the counter. It read:

Yuu-chan,  
I went to the store to pick up  
a few things. I should be home  
by five. Shori is with Bob.

Bob, huh? Now that I think about it, I don’t remember much of him either. I only remembering hearing is the current guardian of Mei. It also bothers me that I didn’t recognize her in the slightest when I saw her, but I recognized her from her voice from when we occasionally talked on the phone and from her habit of calling me Yuu loser. Shin Makoku. That name sounded familiar when Mr. von Christ said it, but I just don’t remember anything about it. All I know about Shin Makoku is its a small closed country in the Pacific Ocean. Why do I speak their language? Is my grandma really from Shin Makoku? Did she teach me the language like Murata suggested? If so, when? The last time I saw her was... When was the last time I saw her? And why did Dacauscos call me ‘Sir’? Is that a weird habit of his or what? And who is Mei’s younger brother? Why did she even bother to mention the past when she wasn’t going to finish the story? Should I ask her later? No. She’d probably pretend that nothing happened. My mind was racing with these thoughts and before I knew it, I fainted.

............... ............... ...............

“Yuu-chan! Yuu-chan! If you don’t wake up right now, I’ll call for an ambulance!” my mom’s voice yelled.

My eyes fluttered open. “Wh-what?”

“Oh, thank goodness. Don’t ever scare me like that again, Yuu-chan,” mom scolded.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

There was a pause. “Why were you sleeping on the floor and in your uniform?” she questioned.

“Um...well...” I laughed nervously.

She sighed, but didn’t press me any further. “Go change. Dinner should be ready in thirty minutes.

About thirty minutes later, mom and I were eating together. Shori was at Bob’s, which meant he was out of the country and dad called, saying he would be late. It was rare that mom and I ate dinner alone together. Even if dad and Shori weren’t home, someone else would be here (usually Murata).

“What’s wrong, Yuu-chan? You’ve hardly touched your food. Did you have a bad first day? Did someone bully you? Tell me their names. I’m going to march right over there and give them a piece of my mind,” she said, standing up which broke me from my thoughts.

“No, mom. I’m just thinking,” I replied hurriedly.

“It’s mama, Yuu-chan.” She paused and sat back down. “What are you thinking about?”

“Strange things that happened today,” I sighed.

“Strange?” she questioned, giving me a quizzical look.

I might as well ask her now. “Shin Makoku. Have we ever gone there?”

“Shin Makoku,” she repeated. “Of course. We used to go all the time when your grandmother moved back to live with her family after your grandfather died. Why?”

“Is Mei from Shin Makoku?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.

“Yes, Yuu-chan. I would think you would remember...” she trailed off with a sad look filling her eyes.

“Mom?” I questioned.

“Obviously you wouldn’t remember after that accident,” mom mumbled.

“Accident?” What accident?

Mom got up from the table and walked over to the shelves. “It happened a long time ago. About ten years. It was your last visit to Shin Makoku and we were taking a boat back to Japan. You were leaning against the edge of the boat and you leaned over too far. You fell into the water. You had hit your head sometime during the fall. It was horrifying.” She paused, picked up a photo album, flipped through it, and replaced it on the shelf. “You broke your right arm and lost a lot of your memories. Meiline was devastated when she got the news. We were sure you got most of your memories back, but you couldn’t remember Meiline or anyone else from Shin Makoku. Meiline refused to give up so she called all the time. She was upset after that when your father would visit Shin Makoku without you," she continued. "Ah! Here it is!” She picked up a different album and walking back over to the table.

She flipped to the first page and set it on the table in front of me after I pushed my dishes away. On the first page, there was a picture of a young Mei and me. Mei looked like a boy with a haircut shorter than mine had been. We were both holding baseball bats. A brown-haired teenage boy stood in the background. He had a calming smile and his hand was raised. A baseball mitt enclosed the hand. The name Conrad suddenly came to mind when I stared at him.

“That’s Meiline’s older brother, Conrart. You used to call him Conrad. He’s the one that helped me pick your name,” mom informed.

The picture below it made my jaw drop. I saw some of these people around school. A younger Miss von Karbelnikoff smiled brightly up at me beside a younger version of the man with the dark grey hair in a ponytail called Gwendal, who had a grimace on his face. Conrad stood beside him, smiling and beside him stood the lady Julia Academy was named after, Lady Susana Julia von Wincott. A buff looking blonde who could have easily made an American football team stood beside her. Sitting on the ground in front of them was Gisela, Dacauscos, and an orange-haired man I swear I’ve seen somewhere recently. My homeroom teacher, Mr. von Christ was in the background of the picture with a lost expression. 

I flipped the page and if my jaw could drop any more, it did. In the picture on the top of the page, there were three kids: Mei, whose hair was now shoulder length, me, and a familiar looking emerald-eyed, blond, pretty boy who clung to my arm. He was glaring at Mei with a sheer venomous look. I knew there was a reason that glare felt familiar. It wasn’t because Mei had the same look, it was because the boy had always held that expression whenever Mei was around. I could feel the memories pouring back. It was rare that Mei wasn’t around me, but in those scarce moments, he smiled angelically. It wasn’t quite the same smile I saw this morning. I looked at the names below the picture to verify my guess. It read: ‘Wolfram von Bielefeld’.


	6. Unfulfilled Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse in the past.

**July 15, Shin Makoku – Ten Years Ago (Mei’s POV)**

 

“Lady Meiline! Lady Meiline! Where are you?!” a nearby maid called out. 

I was hiding in a broom closet beside a pile of buckets. My father was leaving again. I was used to that, but last night, I heard him on the phone. He was talking to _that_ woman. _She_ somehow convinced him to let me stay there while he was away. I was perfectly fine at home alone with the maids and the guards. Now, I was to stay with _her_ for two weeks. Two weeks! What was my father thinking? The door to the closet suddenly swung open and my father stood in the doorway.

“Thought so,” he said, walking over to me and sitting down beside me.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before I said anything. “Daddy, why do I have to go?”

“She’s your mother,” he simply replied.

“I’ve never considered that tramp my mother,” I snapped.

“Such language from my young daughter’s mouth!” my father exclaimed.

“Sorry,” I apologized.

“I know you don’t think highly of your mother, but she wants to see you.” He paused. “Do it for me.” He paused again, but I didn’t react. “Do it for Wolfram.” My eyebrow twitched. “You know he’s always sheltered up in that place. His brothers are always busy and he’s probably lonely.”

“Fine. I’ll go, but only for Wolf. You better not leave me there longer than two weeks. I’ll be counting the days. Do you promise?” I replied, sticking out my pinky finger toward him.

“I promise,” he said, entwining his pinky finger with mine.

...

 

Two days later, father left and the day after that, I said my goodbyes and I left to go to _that woman’s_  castle. As the car drew nearer and nearer, the iron gate seemed to grower taller and taller and I felt as if I was walking right into a trap. I stared at the guards wearing matching uniforms, looking like clones, as I passed through the gate. There was a young boy I guessed around my age standing amongst the guards. The car soon came to a halt at the front doors of the castle. My (flinch) mother was standing right outside the double doors at the top of the stairs and weighed down with huge jewels while wearing a dress that showed off way too much skin. Beside her stood my younger brother, Wolfram. His features looked almost completely identical to hers. I wish he didn’t look so much like her. The driver opened the door for me and I slowly stepped out of the car. At the first sight of me, Wolfram darted down the stairs with an angelic smile on his face. 

“Mei!” he called out as the driver set my suitcase beside me.

A smile tugged on my lips as he crashed into me, knocking me to the ground. “Hey Wolf,” I whispered, patting his golden waves.

“Mother said you’d come,” he said, getting off of me.

He turned around and looked at mother as she made her way down to where we were. I stood up and patted the dirt off my jean shorts. When I looked back up to where my mother was, I saw her eyes were filled with tears. Well, it has been a year since I last saw her. She suddenly mimicked Wolfram and ran towards me down the rest of the steps and wrapped her arms tightly around me. I felt warm droplets fall onto my shoulders as her fingers combed through my hair. Strange. She usually tends to overreact, but the crying was a bit extreme. Dad, please make these two weeks go by fast.

 

...

 

I woke up halfway through falling off the bed on the fourth morning. The sun was shining brightly into my temporary bedroom. I yawned and stared up at the ceiling. This bed isn’t comfortable. I missed my bed back at home. I glanced over at my temporary bed and laughed at Wolfram’s current sleeping position. He had been sneaking into my room at night every night. A soft knock came at the door and it slowly creaked open to reveal my older brother, Conrart behind it. He entered the room and stared down at me. I hadn’t seen him since three years ago when I was five, but he’s been here every day since I got here. He got a lot taller in those three years. If I remember right, he should be about fourteen now. Gwendal’s also been eating dinner with us every night. He’s also changed a lot. He’s seventeen.

“Good morning,” Conrart said, smiling.

“Good morning,” I replied, sitting up.

“The maid said breakfast should be ready in twenty minutes,” he said with an adult-like attitude.

I expected him to immediately turn around and leave, but he didn’t budge an inch. Sadness filled his eyes as he looked at me. It’s the same look he’s been giving me every day. It’s a look that also appears on Gwendal’s face and mother can’t glance in my direction without shedding a tear. It was odd. I don’t like it.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Nothing. It’s just nice having you around,” Conrart replied, pulling on an obviously fake smile.

I didn’t trust it. Something odd was going on and I was going to discover what it was even if it means wearing those horrid pink, frilly things mother tries to force on me. I abruptly stood up and briskly walked over to my wardrobe where mother thought it would be nice to shove it full with those things. I quickly spotted the worst frilliest and pinkest dress I could find. Mother would love it. I was about to pull it out when I noted Conrart still hadn't left and was watching me with keen interest.

“If there isn’t something you need, could you please leave the room so I can get dressed?” I asked, glancing at him over my shoulder.

“Oh. Excuse me,” he said and quickly left the room.

I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this. Wolfram shifted position on the bed and mumbled something. I glanced over at him quickly before pulling out the thing my mother called a dress and stared at it in awe. How could she imagine me wearing something like this that oozed feminism? Was I about to dig my own grave? Well, only one way to find out.

 

...

 

Everyone was silent at the breakfast table. Mother was beaming and, for the first time since I’ve been here, she couldn’t take her eyes off me. Gwendal shifted uncomfortably in his chair every time he peeked over at me. He was probably dying. He tries to hide it, but it’s apparent that he has an obsession with cute things. Conrart was just sitting there, smiling like an idiot while the shock had already worn off Wolfram. I’d never seen him so wide awake when he first woke up in my life.

The air was definitely bizarre. A knock came at the dining room door and a young guard entered. The small boy I saw the first day here was tagging along behind him. The young guard whispered something in my mother’s ear. If her smile could getting any bigger, it did that second.

“Meiline, dear, your friend Yuuri Shibuya and his family are coming for a visit,” she announced.

Yuuri! Yuuri’s coming here! My stay just got a lot better. I wanted to jump around and sing. I wanted to put on my beloved jeans and run around outside. Yuuri was coming!

 

...

 

They arrived on the sixth morning. Wolfram glared at Yuuri as I hugged him. Shori also glared at me as usual. Shoma, Yuuri’s dad, seemed flustered by mother’s appearance. Miko, Yuuri’s mom, pulled on his ear and started to lecture him. I grabbed Yuuri’s hand in the process and pulled him into the castle. Wolfram ran after us and started to whine when we got far enough away. Yuuri made us stop so that Wolfram could catch up. 

“This place is big!” Yuuri shouted as the out-of-breath Wolfram caught up.

Yuuri grabbed Wolfram’s right hand with his free left hand since my hand was in his right. He dragged us through room after room and stared in awe at every little thing. When we entered the throne room, he looked up at the giant chair in confusion.

“Mother sits in that big chair and makes important decisions,” Wolfram informed.

“Mother doesn’t do anything. Uncle just whispers to her what to say,” I corrected him.

“Liar!” Wolfram yelled at me.

I don’t like my mother. I’ve said that time and time again. No one seems to know why, though, but it’s obvious. She’s a liar and a tramp. It may seem harsh, but it’s the truth. Mother started off being a good ruler, but everything went downhill. Now, she couldn’t make a political statement without going through her brother. She always seems to have her head in the clouds while blindly listening to everything and anything Uncle Stoffel said. She gets around a lot, too. My three brothers and I don’t even share a father. She didn’t even marry my father. Why can’t she just stick to one guy? It’s embarrassing.

Yuuri and his family stayed here for a week. They were to leave the day before father was supposed to be back. Wolfram and Yuuri seemed to take a big liking to each other. A hour before the car was to take them away, Wolfram was bawling his eyes out and refused to listen to reason. Yuuri took him away from the crowd by the hand and pulled him to the courtyard. I secretly followed after them to see what they were doing. I got there in time to see Yuuri slip a ring on Wolfram’s left thumb. He showed Wolfram an identical one on his own thumb. I heard him promise Wolfram that he would come see him again and they would get married at that time so they could never be separated again. Then, he kissed Wolfram’s forehead.

Wolfram and I watched on long after the car was out of view. Wolfram’s hand grabbed mine and squeezed. He didn’t like Yuuri leaving and the squeezing was probably to keep himself from crying again. Yuuri probably told him not to. He reached up and touched his forehead with his free hand while smiling sadly. I couldn’t help, but feel like I was losing my best friend.

 

...

 

The rest of the day past by slowly and uneventfully to my knowledge. Soon, it was the last day. Father was supposed to come today. I would be going home to my own bed within a few hours, but the day soon passed and so did the next one and the day after that. Those two weeks turned into three and there was still no word from my dad. That was weird. He would usually immediately tell me if there was a reason why he was so late. The sorrow-filled looks returned to the adults whenever I asked about it. On the twenty-third morning, mother, Gwendal, and Conrart woke me up. Gwendal wouldn’t look at me and his face looked so angry. I turned over to Conrart who only looked at me sadly. I hesitated before finally looking at mother. She was crying heavily. 

“Meiline,” she whispered softly.

No. No! No! I didn’t want to hear it! NO! I stared in horror as she opened her mouth.

“Something bad happened to your father, honey. H-he...he’s...gone to...a b-b-better place...now. I-I...I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she whispered, hugging me and the tears streamed down my face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a lot more to the past to come in later chapters as the events occur. I will mention that you will hear more of Wolfram and Yuuri’s conversation when Yuuri proposed.
> 
> Yuuri and Wolfram are supposed to be six and Mei’s supposed to be eight. I know they don’t exactly sound like young kids, but it’s hard to try and write from a little kid’s point of view.


	7. Rings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the present!! A continuation from when Yuuri had saw the photo album.

If there was ever a time to feel completely and utterly lost, it was now. I’ve known from Mei that I’ve known her for a long time, but I could never remember how I met her. I knew there was something odd about those people at that school. All of them had the same sort of expression when they looked at me that I pretended not to notice. It was strange. When I first met Dacauscos, he called me “Sir” for some reason, but I hadn’t heard him refer to anyone else like that today, except Mei who he called “Lady Meiline", and it looked like he was having a hard time saying my name. Though I thought nothing of him calling me that before, seeing him in a couple of these photos with scary-looking, identically dressed men made my thoughts twist. Sir, huh? Who was Dacauscos and what exactly was I to him? Not just him, but everyone else, too. My jaw dropped again when I turned the page. My mother was standing beside an extremely beautiful blonde woman who looked a lot like Wolfram. She was weighed down with expensive-looking jewels and wore a revealing black dress. Beneath the picture, four words were written: “Miko and Queen Cecilie.” Queen? What?! 

“Yuu-chan, I found some videos,” mom said, walking back into the room with a box in her hands.

“Mom, who is this?” I asked, pointing at the picture.

“It’s mama, Yuu-chan,” she said, setting the box down and walking over to me.

A scowl spread across her face, but she didn’t answer me. “Mom? Mom? Mama?”

She glanced over at me and the scowl disappeared. I’d never seen her glare at anyone like that before. “That...is Meiline’s mother. Her name is Lady Cecilie von Spitzberg. She’s the current queen of Shin Makoku.”

“Wh-why do we know the queen of another country?!” I asked, shocked by this revelation while my mother picked up an older photo album.

She sighed and flipped to the front page with a picture of a couple sitting underneath a sakura tree. “You know your father isn’t full Japanese. His mother, your grandmother, was a foreigner. She’s from Shin Makoku. She came from a noble family and was sent to study abroad here in Japan. Apparently, her family did it to keep her from marrying her boyfriend at the time. He wasn’t fit to marry into the noble blood, but the plan backfired. She fell in love with your grandfather, who was even less fit to marry into the family. After that, she had plenty of fights with the family. They tried to force her to marry all sorts of men, but one five-year-old got them to quiet down. She was Cecilie. A five-year-old accomplished making the whole noble family listen! She simply asked them why your grandmother wasn’t allowed to love the one she loved.”

I quickly glanced down at the picture before flipping the page to see a twenty-two year-old version of my grandmother with a five-year-old Cecilie sitting in her lap. “So it’s kind of thanks to her that I’m alive.”

“That’s the only good point about her.” The scowl returned to mom’s face. “Your grandmother praised her all the time and still does. She always tried to set your father up with her, but he declined. She’s a horrid woman. She has four children with four different guys and she’s only been married to three of them. She’s looking for a new man all the time. And she... Well, I’m not very fond of her.”

She didn’t say anything more. What had Mei’s mom done to make her so upset? She pulled the box of videos closer to her and started to rifle through them and she pulled out one with a slightly faded label. Mom walked over to the television, popped it in, and came back over to sit beside me on the sofa. She turned on the television with the remote and pushed play. The first thing I saw was a young blonde staring at the camera. His emerald green eyes sparkled with curiosity as he reached out toward the camera. A larger hand reached out and lightly pushed it away. The young blonde glared up at the unseen face of the newcomer. He stormed away and the camera moved up to the newcomer. It was the teenage Conrad. He had a small frown on his face, but he smiled cheerfully when he noted the camera on him.

“I do wish Wolfie wouldn’t show that kind of face,” a woman’s soft voice said.

The camera moved and situated on Mei’s mom. The blonde looked exactly the same as she did in the photos. Some of the jewels around her neck sparkled in the sunlight, but her eyes didn’t sparkle like Wolfram’s. Instead they were shining and looked as if she were about to burst into tears. 

“Let me guess. It was Conrart,” a quiet voice said.

“As always. You’re quite keen on these things, Julia,” Cecilie replied.

“I kind of understand where Wolfram’s coming from. Conrart is hardly ever home and it can be quite lonely. It’s the same for me when Del Kierson isn’t home,” the lady, Julia, said.

The camera shifted to show the teenage girl standing next to Cecilie, staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. She looked so peaceful with the world, yet she had a sad expression, too. The camera was taken off the two and shifted to three children running around in the distance. The three were Wolfram, Mei, and me. Wolfram fell to the ground and the younger version of me raced over to him to see if he was okay. Mei was soon beside me as you could start to hear Wolfram’s whimpers. A few maids scrambled to where of the three of us huddled with first aid kits in hand.

A searing pain flashed through my head. I remember. Wolfram had scraped his knee. He was trying his best to keep in his tears, but to no avail. I had wiped away the stray tears with my sleeve and he held onto my arm tightly. Mei called him a wimp and me a loser before storming off into the castle. I had wondered if she wanted me to go after her, but Wolfram was gripping my shirt so tightly. After the maid cleaned and bandaged his knee, we went back to his room and I read him a story. I didn’t know how old he was back then, but I felt obligated to take care of him as if he were my younger brother. Mei joined us later, but seemed very annoyed and unhappy.

“Mom, I’m going to bed. I’m tired,” I said, standing up from the sofa and replacing the photo albums back on the shelves.

She didn’t respond at first so I glanced over at her to see tears streaming down her face. She quickly wiped away those tears and mumbled something incoherently to herself. She turned her attention to me and apologized. I told her “good night” and left her there, knowing that those tears would return when I left the room. Mom was never very great at hiding her feelings.

.....   .....   .....

 

_Giggling echoed in the courtyard. It was only Wolfram and me today. He pulled me to some batch of flowers and we both took a deep breath of the flower’s scent. I recognized this smell. It seemed to float about Wolfram all the time. I grabbed Wolfram’s hand and squeezed it. Today was the last day I was staying here. I had only just met Wolfram, but he seemed very, very important to me. I pulled him aside to some of the bushes where a bench stood. I could feel the presence of someone close by, but it held no importance to me. Whoever it was, was probably just making sure we weren’t getting into any trouble. Shori certainly came to mind._

_I pulled out a set of rings from my pocket. I had saw them previously when I was out shopping with mom. They reminded me of the rings mom and dad wore. They told me once that the rings were a sign that they would be together forever. When I told Wolfram earlier that I was going to be leaving soon, he cried. I wanted the rings I saw to show Wolfram that I wasn’t going to leave him behind. I noticed that one ring was smaller than the other. Perfect. Wolfram’s hands were smaller than mine. The only problem that presented itself was the fact that they were so big. The smallest size they had was still slightly bigger than my thumb, but I thought we’d grow into them. After pleading with my mom, she bought them for me._

_Wolfram stared at the rings curiously. I put the larger of the two rings on my left thumb and slipped the smaller ring on Wolfram’s left thumb. He had that curious sparkle in his eyes again._

_“This is a promise that I will see you again. Next time, we’ll get married so that I won’t ever have to leave again,” I said, smiling._

_“Never ever?” Wolfram questioned._

_“Never ever, Wolf,” I replied and kissed his forehead._

_He smiled, but the tears soon returned since I would be leaving in an hour or two. I grabbed his hand and we walked back to where my family and his stood. Mei had an angry expression again. She seemed very angry this whole week I was here. Her eyes glanced down at Wolfram’s left hand and her anger seemed to peak as she stormed away like usual._

.....   ......   ....

 

“Yuuri! Yuuri! Hey, loser! Get up!” Mei’s voice was yelling. 

My eyes fluttered open. A dream? No. That wasn’t a dream. It was a memory. I promised a guy I’d marry him?! I pinched the bridge of my nose as Mei ordered me to get ready for school. School. That’s definitely not one place I want to be at today. I glanced over at the ring lying on my bedside table before carefully picking it up. Does this mean it’s an engagement ring? I sighed and fastened the chain around my neck. I patted the ring as it lay against my chest.

“Shibuya! Hurry up!” Murata’s voice called.

“Coming!” I yelled back.

......   .......   ......

 

When I got to school, Wolfram was leaning against the gate. He looked flustered. What’s gotten into him? As Mei passed him in front of me, their eyes connected, but the connection broke as quickly as it started. That’s right. They’re siblings. She’s a princess and he’s a prince. Why does this feel like I’m reading a fairy tale or watching one of mom’s favorite soap operas? I was about to pass him when his hand grabbed my arm. I turned toward him and Murata walked on. 

“Sorry about before,” he said softly.

“No. I should be apologizing for losing my memories,” I replied.

“I didn’t believe Meiline when she told me, but when you looked at me as if I was a stranger, it...” he trailed off as a single tear escaped his eye. “I had to make sure somehow that you didn’t complete forget.”

I unconsciously wiped away the tear and he jerked back from shock. What did I just do? I returned my hand to my side and looked anywhere except his face. I could feel my face was turning red. I dared a glance at his face to see his face turned crimson.

“You always used to do that,” he mumbled.

“Yeah. I remember,” I said.

His eyes connected with mine and his face turned redder than before. He opened his mouth and closed it. He opened it once again, but words failed to escape. Why did I have to create this awkward situation? Small sounds started to escape his lips. Then....

“You wimp!” he yelled and ran away, still blushing.


	8. Stare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploading 2 chapters today since I've been behind schedule!
> 
> Also, Mei's full name is Meiline Catherine von Radford. She is from the von Radford noble family. I don't believe I've ever mentioned that.

**Wolfram’s POV**

Wimp! Wimp! Wimp! Wimp! WIMP! Out of all the things for that wimp to remember, he remembers something like that! Why that? I-I...uh... Why am I so...embarrassed? I entered the nearest bathroom and splashed water on my face. When I glanced up at the mirror, my cherry-colored face gazed back at me. I scowled at myself. The bell for first period rang. Che!

I apologized to Günter for showing up late and took my seat beside Yuuri. I could feel his eyes on me, but I pretended not to notice or care. I tried to concentrate on whatever Günter was talking about, but I couldn’t get my mind off of Yuuri. Namely, it was because the wimp wouldn’t quit staring at me. How did he remember? He did lose his memories, right? Or did that wimp lie because he met some hussie? I can’t believe this! He had the nerve to cheat on me!

“Wolfram?” Elizabeth’s voice said warily.

What!?” I shouted.

Before long, it was lunchtime and I was outside with Elizabeth. I had wasted the whole morning thinking about that cheating wimp and I still couldn’t get him off my mind. Ahh!

“What’s wrong? Why are you so mad?” Elizabeth asked, eyes brimming with tears.

“It’s nothing!” I yelled.

That did it. The tears started pouring down her cheeks. Curious eyes turned toward us and some scowled at me while most girls grimaced at Elizabeth. At times like this, I wished I had male friends. Most guys didn’t like me because of all these annoying girls hanging over me. I didn’t mind Elizabeth as much since we were friends when we were younger, but sometimes I just didn’t want to be around her. Especially since she flirts with me all the time now and treats me like I’m one of her possessions.

“I’m sorry for raising my voice,” I grumbled.

As if that was a switch, her tears abruptly stopped. “I’m sorry, too. I was just overreacting.”

“That is quite an understatement,” Saralegui said, walking towards us with his own posse of girls.

Elizabeth glared at him. “No one’s talking to you.”

“Oh, but I do believe you are now,” Saralegui replied, smirking. 

“Ignore him,” I told Elizabeth, trying to keep a fight from breaking out between them.

“But-” Elizabeth started.

“He’s not even worth it,” I said, receiving glares from the posse surrounding him.

Saralegui stood there a few moments and didn’t say anything before leaving silently. Saralegui’s family and our families don’t get along at all. No matter how many times their families tried to take the crown, they failed miserably. Serves them right! They were cruel, power-hungry people who liked to use people for their own games.

“Hey Yuuri! Murata! Wait up!” I heard my older sister’s voice call out.

My head turned and I saw her running towards Yuuri. No! Why didn’t I think of it before? Mei wanted Yuuri for herself! No. That can’t be right. If she wanted Yuuri, she wouldn’t have been with James for all those years. Maybe the wimp really was finally remembering after all these years. Why now?

“Yuuri! You promised to eat with us!” a couple of girls from our class yelled.

Well, I can’t have these hussies clinging to him now that he’s remembering things. He’s my fiancé! I wanted to run over there and drag Yuuri away, but Mei beat me. She glared at them and said something I couldn’t hear, but it must’ve been bad to see the reactions. The girls’ eyes were round and almost bulging out of their sockets while Yuuri’s mouth gaped open and Murata burst in a fit of laughter.

“Wolfram. Wolfram! Hey! Wolfram!” Elizabeth shouted.

I returned my gaze to the annoying blonde sitting across from me. “What is it?”

“Why are you ignoring me?” she asked.

“I wasn’t,” I replied.

“Really? Then, tell me. What did I just say?” Elizabeth demanded.

“Uh...”

That stupid wimp!

... ... ... 

**Yuuri’s POV**  

I sneezed.

“Are you sick?” Mei asked me.

“I don’t think so,” I responded.

“Someone must be talking about you. I wouldn’t be surprised with what Meiline said to those girls” Murata pointed out.

“Hey! The last thing I wanted to hear during lunch was the squealing of Yuuri’s fangirls,” Mei defended. 

While Murata and Mei decided to have a long discussion about my alleged stalkers, my thoughts trailed back to the blond. He was ignoring me now. I guess that’s better than him hating me, but for some reason, it bothers me more to be ignored. He wouldn’t look at me at all after the incident this morning and he was dragged out of the classroom by that blonde girl from the other day before I had the chance to even speak a single word to him. What was I going to say? I don’t know. Something like, ‘Hey Wolfram! Could you please go back to hating my guts and glaring at me all the time because I don’t like you ignoring me?’ Why does it bother me? Why?

“Why would I care?” I whispered.

“Huh? Did you say something, Yuuri?” Mei asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

She returned to her conversation with Murata, but glanced inquisitively in my direction every once in a while. Gisela and Dacauscos joined us in a few minutes without giving us a clue as to where they had been. When Murata pushed the subject, Gisela gave him a small smile, but wasn’t kind like usual, instead it was rather menacing. Let’s just say, the subject was quickly dropped.

A few minutes later, I felt eyes staring intently at me. I glanced around and expected to find Wolfram standing around somewhere, but instead found a different blond staring in my direction. It was Sara. He smiled when he noticed I was staring back at him and waved me over to where he sat, surrounded by girls. I shrugged to myself and left my group. Sara pushed a girl that was to his right away from him and patted the now vacant spot for me to occupy it. I sat beside him without a thought.

“Von Bielefeld wasn’t being very nice to you today, was he?” Sara said.

“Uh. Well, it’s my fault. I guess,” I replied.

“You guess?” Sara questioned.

I nodded. “I knew Wolfram in the past. I remembered something and mentioned it to him before class this morning.”

“You knew von Bielefeld,” Sara half said, half asked.

“Yeah... Kind of,” I answered.

“Hmm... So what do you think of the things going on in Shin Makoku?” Sara asked. 

“Things going on?” I questioned.

“Dear me, you’re friends with Miss von Radford and you knew von Bielefeld, yet you have no clue as to what’s going on in Shin Makoku,” Sara said in a stunned voice that I’m pretty sure was fake.

“It’s not something that comes up in conversation,” I replied.

“Oh... So what is it you all talk about?” Sara asked.

I was starting to get very uncomfortable here and wished I would’ve just stayed over there with my friends. “Nothing in particular. Whatever happened today or in the past couple of days. Sometimes we talk about classes.”

"And don't you have a history of Shin Makoku class? I know school has only just started, but haven't we discussed the current events of Shin Makoku?" Sara pressed.

Right. History was not my favorite subject, so most of the time, my mind wandered. I laughed nervously. "I guess I should pay more attention in class."

Sara stared at me for a moment. “Hmm... “

“Uh... I better get back to my friends. Mei told me she wanted to ask me something,” I said, standing up.

I felt Sara tug on my blazer as I started to walk away. He looked at me from above his glasses. His eyes were strange. I smiled at him and tugged myself free from his grip. Murata gave me a questioning look as I returned to the group. Mei glanced over at me, glared at the direction I came from, and turned back to Gisela.

Before we went back to class, Mei pulled me aside. “What did Saralegui want?”

“What?” I asked.

“Don’t play dumb, you loser. You heard me. Tell me,” Mei ordered.

“N-nothing in particular,” I answered quickly. 

She glared at me. “Don’t go near that sorry excuse for a human ever again!”

“O-okay,” I replied, taking a couple steps back.

“He’s bad news, Yuuri. I mean it,” she said.

I nodded. I’ve never seen Mei act like this before. I mean, I’ve only seen her these past couple of days, but I never expected her to have a side like this. She frowned to herself and gave me a weak smile before chasing after Gisela and Dacauscos. I felt eyes on me again. Was it Sara again?  I glanced over in the direction I felt the gaze coming from to find a brown-haired man standing there. Who was he? My mind flickered back to the photo albums to the brown-haired teenager. They looked almost the same. Conrad?

“Hey wimp! You’ll be late for class if you don’t hurry up!” Wolfram called out from somewhere behind me.

So he’s talking to me now? At least, that’s what I thought. I tried to thank him later, but he pretended I wasn’t there. I did catch him glancing past me at Sara. I wonder why. Did Mei mention Sara to him before? He was out there with us. No. Mei never talks to her brothers. This morning proves that. Her brothers.... I wonder why Conrad was there. I hadn’t seen him around here before.

... ... ...

 

_It was dark and a cold wind was blowing. The air smelled of salt. I was standing on a boat. The rocking motion caused me to sway a little. I reached out for anything I could use to stabilize myself. My hand caught something warm. A blonde was standing beside me with her arm held out for me. She smiled at me and pulled me toward the boats railing. She pointed up at the railing and gave me a pleading look. She wanted me to stand up there? Mom warned me to stay away from the railing bars, but I just didn’t want to say no to her. For some reason, she made me think of Wolf. I climbed up onto the first bar and the blonde mimicked me. I climbed up to the second bar and the blonde mimicked me again. I climbed up to the third bar, but I felt something push my back and I lost my balance. The blonde girl was smiling at me. I fell forward..._

“Yuuri! Breakfast!” my mom yelled.

After quickly getting dressed, I stumbled down the stairs to find Murata and Mei at the door. “Good morning.”

“Yuuri? What’s wrong?” Mei asked, concerned.

I raised my hand to my face and felt wetness. Tears stained my face. “Ah. Nothing. Bad dream.”

Mei frowned at me as my mind drifted to the strange blonde girl from my dream. The image of her smiling as she pushed me replayed over and over in my mind.


	9. Waiting Under a Sakura Tree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break in updates. Life happens and before you know it, three months go by. Just a reminder: I started writing this story years ago and these chapters I'm posting are old and have already been posted elsewhere. Suggestions are nice, but I cannot change anything until I reach my more current chapters on here. The reason it takes so long for me to post on here is because I'm working on more current chapters now while also trying to fix my grammar for these older chapters.
> 
> This is going to be a group chapter update. This is the first of five chapters I'm updating today.

**Yuuri’s POV**

Sara was staring at me and he wasn’t too keen on hiding it. Every time my eyes trailed in his direction, he was completely facing me. I even waved at him once, hoping he would just wave back and turn away, but he did nothing. He didn’t wave or smile or do anything to acknowledge I waved at him. I turned to my other side to see Wolfram glaring out the window. He was still ignoring me. It’s been a week since I’ve talked to him that morning. I felt hopeless sitting between these two.

 

What makes everything worse, I haven’t seen Mei at lunch at all to complain to her about any of this. I could complain to Murata, but he would just smile or do anything that wouldn’t help me in the slightest. Gisela scares me so I can’t talk to her and Dacauscos is a good listener, but he’s not good with talking. I only see Mei for five minutes in the morning and then I don’t see her until the next morning. She doesn’t even come over for breakfast or dinner anymore.

 

It was finally lunch. It was quiet. Was Mei really that talkative? Murata tried his third attempt to start a conversation with Gisela, but he failed. For some reason, I think Murata is scared of her, too. I feel eyes on my back the whole lunch period. I already know who it is. Murata pointed out Sara’s staring two days ago. I think he knew Sara’s been doing it for a week, but he just chose to say something about it then because he couldn’t think of what to talk about.

 

I looked over to where Wolfram usually sat under that sakura tree with that blonde girl named Elizabeth, but Wolfram isn’t there again. He’s been missing at lunch for a week just like Mei. Was it a family thing? I swear that man was her older brother, Conrad. But that’s impossible. She doesn’t talk to her family, right? The blonde girl looks up in my direction and smiles at me. She’s sitting with a group of girls today. I wonder if she knows where they are or at least, she’ll most likely know where Wolfram is.

 

The bell rang at the end of the day. I didn’t move from my desk. Wolfram wasn’t in class at all in the afternoon. I felt a light tap on my shoulder and turned to see Sara standing before. His mouth opened to say something, but a small hand grabbed onto my arm and pulled me away from Sara. It was the young brunette girl I met before. Greta. She dragged me out to the sakura tree to where the blonde, Elizabeth, was standing. She thanked Greta and softly patted her on the head the way an owner would pet there dog. It irked me.

 

“See you later, Yuuri. We should play together sometime,” Greta said sweetly to me before departing.

 

“Do you need something?” I asked.

 

“No. Not me,” she replied. “Wolfram asked me to bring you out here. He said he wanted to ask you something. So, here we are.”

 

“So, you’re friends with Wolfram,” I said. It was more of a statement than a question.

 

“Yeah. For a long time. I think we were seven,” she simply replied.

 

“You’re not dating him?” I questioned.

 

“No. I wish, but he always clutching onto this ring he wears around his neck. I asked about it once. He told me his fiancé gave it to him. He won’t even tell me who the lucky girl is,” she said with a longing look in her eyes.

 

I wonder what she would do if she found out there was no girl. Wait! What?! He thinks I’m his fiancé! Sure. I guess I proposed to him when we were kids, but we were kids! Kids do stupid things all the time! A hand touched my arm. I looked over to see a worried expression on Elizabeth’s face. I then realized I was hyperventilating.

 

“Are you alright?” she asked.

 

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it. It happens sometimes,” I lied.

 

“Okay.” She paused. “I wonder what’s taking Wolfram so long.”

 

... ... ... ... ...

 

**Wolfram’s POV**

 

“Are you sure this is her class?” Conrart asked me.

 

“Of course, Weller. I asked the office and so did you,” I retorted.

 

“Then, where is she?” Conrart asked.

 

“Why the hell would I know?” I snapped.

 

“Language,” Conrart said, frowning.

 

“Damnit! I should’ve made her stay with me when we were talking before!” I shouted to myself.

 

“Wolfram. Language,” Conrart said, deepening his frown. “She talked to you earlier?”

 

“Yeah,” I said.

 

Conrart stared at me. “Hmm...”

 

“What?!” I yelled.

 

“Nothing,” Conrart replied.

 

“Maybe she already left,” I said, returning the subject to finding Meiline.

 

“The dorms?” Conrart questioned.

 

“I doubt she’d be there. She knows you’re here which means that Gwendal, mother, and Shinou would be somewhere nearby. She wouldn’t go where she’d be easily found,” I pointed out.

 

“Of course.” He paused. “Could she be at the Shibuya household?”

 

“Like I said, Weller, she wouldn’t be somewhere she’d be easily found,” I said, annoyed.

 

Conrart didn’t look convinced. It would be too obvious if she were there, though. Why does she have to be so difficult? (What Wolfram didn’t know was that Mei was currently waiting for Yuuri in his bedroom while sneezing plenty of times to make her wonder if she was catching a cold.)

 

“What time is it, Weller?” I asked.

 

He looked down at his watch. “Almost three-thirty. Why?”

 

I thought to the sakura tree where Yuuri would be waiting. “I’ll be back. I have to take care of something.”

 

When I got there I found Yuuri standing next to Elizabeth in, what looked like, an awkward silence. He was fidgeting and looking in every direction and she was fiddling with the end of her skirt. I smirked. He’s such a wimp. He can’t even find a decent way to entertain a lady. I guess that’s a good thing for me. That’s means we can’t possibly cheat on me. Suddenly he looked at her and started talking. In response, Elizabeth blushed and started laughing. That cheating, good-for-nothing, flirtatious wimp! I tried to keep my calm and I strolled over there as if I wasn’t going to strangle him for flirting with a girl, not just any girl, but my friend, in front of my face.

 

“Oh! Wolfram! What took you so long?!” Elizabeth called out as I approached.

 

“Sorry. I was with Conrart,” I replied.

 

I saw Yuuri’s expression from questionable to one filled with curiosity. So he remembers Conrart now, too. The timing seems almost too convenient. Ah! This is frustrating me! Did he really lose his memory or did he just lose contact with everyone except Meiline? No. Meiline wouldn’t lie, would she?

 

“I’ll be leaving then, Wolfram,” Elizabeth said, breaking me from my thoughts. “See you around, Yuuri.”

 

“Bye,” Yuuri replied, smiling like an idiot.

 

“Cheating wimp,” I muttered.

 

“Huh? Did you say something Wolfram?” Yuuri asked.

 

“No. Nothing,” I lied.

 

“Uh. Okay. Um... Elizabeth said you wanted to ask me something,” Yuuri said.

 

Right. “Yes.” I paused, trying to figure out how to word what I was going to say. “Did you really lose your memories? I mean.... How are you remembering.... Uh...” I trailed off.

 

“I’m sorry. I really did lose my memories. I’m sad now that I know I knew all of these people and they are treating me like they met me for the first time. I don’t know why I’m suddenly remembering. It might be because I looked through old photo albums a couple weeks ago or it might be because I’m surrounded by all of you. I’m sorry that I lost my memories, but I hope I get them all back soon,” Yuuri answered with a sincere face.

 

I don’t know why, but I started crying after he said that. He wanted to remember. He honestly wanted to remember. Yuuri was now wearing a concerned look on his face. It’s the same concerned look. Like a replay from last week, Yuuri lifted my face up and wiped away the tears from my eyes. I don’t know what inspired me to do it, but I leaned forward and pressed my lips hard against his. He stilled and I pulled back quickly. What did I just do? I felt the heat rushing to my face as I blushed. I looked at Yuuri and he was standing there, speechless and blushing up to his ears. Then, I did the only thing a man can do when he made a fool of himself, I ran away.

 

 ... ... ... ... ...

 

**Yuuri’s POV**

 

I watched Wolfram running away. What? I touched my lips. I could still feel the heat of his lips on mine. What? Strangely, I didn’t hate it. What?! I looked back at the direction Wolfram ran off to. He was nowhere to be seen. I turned, stumbled out of the schoolyard, started to fall, caught myself, and stumbled all the way home.

 

I shut the door behind me. “Yuu-chan? Is that you? Mei...” She turned around the corner. “Yuu-chan, are you getting a fever?”

 

“No. I feel fine. Why?” I asked.

 

“Your face is bright red,” she said, walking towards me and placing her hand on my forehead.

 

“It’s nothing, mom,” I replied, pushing her hand away.

 

“It’s mama, Yuu-chan,” she sighed. “Anyway, where have you been? Mei has been up in your room, waiting for you to get home.”

 

“Mei’s here?” I questioned.

 

“Are you sure you’re not sick. You’re face is red and you’re having trouble hearing,” mom said, concerned.

 

“I’m fine, mom,” I replied as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

 

“Murata’s not with you?” Mei questioned, reaching the bottom.

 

I shook my head. “No.”

 

“Yuuri, it’s been bugging me. What was your bad dream about?” Mei asked.

 

“Bad dream? Yuu-chan! You should tell mama when you have a bad dream!” mom scolded me.

 

“Sorry,” I apologized.

 

The two woman stared at me when I didn’t answer Mei’s question.

 

“Mom, do you remember if there was a small blonde girl on the boat the night of my accident?” I asked.

 

“Hmm... Not that I can remember, but there was this cute little blonde boy who was on board with his uncle. Why?” mom replied.

 

“I think I remembered what happened to me that night. I was with a blonde girl and we were climbing on the railings together. I knew it was a bad idea, but I did it anyway,” I said.

 

Neither mom nor Mei said anything in response. Mom’s eyes were shining with tears and Mei looked as if she were contemplating something. The only blonde girl I could think of was Elizabeth, but I never met her before I came here. There was also Wolfram’s mom, but that was just far-fetched, being I saw her earlier that day as a grown woman. It could’ve been Mei. Mei had reddish brown hair and she would never do something like that. Blonde girl. Was she even from Shin Makoku? Hmm...

 

... ... ... ... ...

 

**Murata’s POV**

 

“My nephew sure has a lot of spunk,” Shinou said, chuckling at the Wolfram running away from Shibuya.

 

“Why Shibuya?” I asked, getting right to the point.

 

“Huh?” He paused. “I have my reasons,” she said, smiling deviously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shinou is going to be Wolfram's uncle/Cecilie's and Stoffel's brother.


	10. Of Redheads and Mei's Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STOP!!! This is the second chapter in a five chapter update starting with Chapter 9. If you're a new reader, please ignore this. If you have started this story before, Chapters 9-13 are all posted at the same time.

**Yuuri’s POV**

 

It was lunch and I really didn’t like the current situation I was in. About twenty girls surrounded my desk and refused to let me move. I could barely make out Murata standing in the doorway. I was about to flag him to help me, but I was attacked.

 

“Where’s the Prince?” one girl asked, squeezing her hand tight on my shoulder.

 

“What did you do to him, Shibuya?” another asked.

 

“ I overheard he was looking for you so where is he?”

 

“Yeah. What did you do to him?”

 

“Where is he? Where’s the Prince?”

 

“You didn’t make him cry, did you?”

 

“I bet he was only trying to be your friend and you turned him down.”

 

“How cruel!”

 

“You’re a jerk!”

 

“Heartless coward!”

 

“Everyone! Move!” Elizabeth’s voice yelled, overpowering everyone.

 

It was strange. The nails that were digging into my shoulders were gone and a small aisle was parted between the girls to make way for Elizabeth. She had a calm smile on her face, but her actual feelings showed in her eyes. She was sad. She slowly made her way to me and placed her hand gently on my shoulder.

 

“Yuuri, do forgive them for their rash actions. They are only worried for Wolfram,” she whispered.

 

“I...uh...I don’t know where he is,” I said.

 

“Of course you don’t, silly. He’s at home. He caught a cold last night and is too sick to come into school,” she replied.

 

The girls around me started to disperse, giving me apologetic looks. I only smiled back at them as they left. Was Wolfram really sick like Elizabeth said? I wanted to ask him about the k...k-k-kiss. He kissed me. He stole my first kiss! Ah! No! My first kiss was stolen by a guy! I slammed my head against my desk causing the room to fall silent. I glanced up to see several concerned stares and Murata laughing silently in the doorway. Why is he my friend again? I felt Elizabeth’s hand leave my shoulder and she patted me light on the head. It wasn’t like the way she patted Greta the other day.

 

“Do you want to go see him after school?” she asked.

 

I looked up at her. Was she serious? Go to Wolfram’s house? I couldn’t do that. My thoughts traveled to the photo albums with the photos of Wolfram with his mother, Mei, and his older brothers and other people I have yet to recognize. Would any of them be there? It wouldn’t do any harm.

 

“If you go, too,” I replied.

 

“Alright, then. After school,” she said before walking away.

 

... ... ...

 

_Meanwhile..._

 

**Meiline’s POV**

 

Where should I hide today? Hmm...

 

“Meiline?” a voice behind me said.

 

I spun on my heels to find Conrart’s best friend, Yozak, standing behind me. “Hi.”

 

“What are you doing?” the redhead asked.

 

“Nothing in particular. Just going to use the restroom,” I replied.

 

“You do know that’s a boy’s restroom, right?” he pointed out.

 

“Oh. It is. Haha! Silly me,” I said nervously.

 

Great. Can’t use this spot.

 

... ... ...

 

**Wolfram’s POV**

 

I sneezed again. I feel like my head is about to explode. Being sick is the worst.

 

... ... ...

 

**Yuuri’s POV**

 

As Elizabeth and I walked away from the school, I started to feel uneasy about going to see Wolfram. We’re going there spur of the moment and I’m not quite sure what to do when I see him. We got to the road Wolfram usually turned down. I could keep walking straight and I’d get to my house. I’m sure Elizabeth wouldn’t care if I went or not. She turned the corner ahead of me.

 

“Hello Elizabeth. Going to see Wolfram?” a man’s voice asked.

 

“Yeah. I was shocked to hear from Lady Cecilie that he was sick. It’s hard to believe someone as stubborn as he is can get sick,” Elizabeth replied.

 

The man chuckled. “I know what you mean.” A pause. “Are you going by yourself?”

 

“Eh? No. My classmate is...” she trailed off.

 

She must’ve noticed I wasn’t beside her. I sighed. Now, I couldn’t get away from going. I turned the corner to find Elizabeth staring back at me with Conrad and a redhead in front of her. Conrad’s eyes widened and he smiled.

 

“Where were you, Yuuri?” Elizabeth asked.

 

“Uh. My shoe was untied,” I lied.

 

“Anyways, this is Yuuri Shibuya,” Elizabeth said to the two while pointing at me. “Yuuri, this is...”

 

“Conrad,” I mumbled.

 

“Actually, it’s Conrart, but...” she trailed off.

 

Conrad and the redhead looked shocked.

 

“How did you know that?” Elizabeth asked.

 

“Seems Yuuri is finally remembering. I bet everyone will delighted. Don’t you think so, Yozak?” Conrad said.

 

“Yeah, but just because the kid remembers you doesn’t mean he remembers everything,” the redhead replied.

 

The redhead named Yozak did look familiar, but... “You helped Murata with those bullies before.”

 

“Murata? That Japanese kid with the glasses? Yeah. He seems to be chased down by thugs all the time. I’m starting to wonder if he’s the type who like to get into trouble,” Yozak said.

 

I laughed nervously. He did tend to get into trouble a lot. I’m not surprised Yozak thinks that way. Yozak soon parted from us after a few whispered words with Conrad. Then, the three of us started walking towards Wolfram’s house. The silence between us was awkward. It was like I was walking with two complete strangers to a complete stranger’s house, but I knew two of the three from the past. But I lost my memories of them. Part of me tells me that I’m doing something odd while the other part is worried for Wolfram’s well-being. I was so concentrated with my thoughts that I didn’t notice that Elizabeth had stopped in front of me and I bumped into her.

 

“Ah! Sorry,” I apologized.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

 

I looked up at the house in front of me. No. It was too big to be considered a house. It was a mansion. A huge mansion that didn’t look like it belonged here. The large iron gates opened and we entered. The walk to the front doors didn’t take as long as I expected it to, but I wished it did take long. I looked up at the building one more time at its closer proximity.

 

Conrad chuckled. “Bigger that you expected?”

 

“Much,” I replied. “I keep forgetting that Wolfram’s from a royal family.”

 

“Conrart is too, silly,” Elizabeth said.

 

I looked over at Conrad. “Doesn’t seem like it, either.”

 

He smiled at me and pulled open the front door and was immediately hugged by a blonde woman. The blonde woman was wearing a bright red dress with a slit all the way up to her hip and a completely bare back. Elizabeth frowned a little at the action of the woman. Who was she? She slowly let go of Conrad and I saw her face. Wolfram’s mom! I guess she’s also Conrad’s and Mei’s mom, too. Her looks had not changed at all since I was little or at least, she looks like she did in the pictures from our photo albums.

 

“Conrart, I’ve missed you so much,” the woman said, attempting another hug.

 

“You’ve seen me this morning, mother,” Conrad said, smiling and gracefully slipping away from his mother’s grasp.

 

“Yes, but the hours felt like years without you,” she complained.

 

“We have company, mother,” Conrad said, changing the subject.

 

The blonde woman turned toward Elizabeth. “Elizabeth, you’re definitely becoming a beautiful woman like myself.”

 

I could see Elizabeth pull on a forced smile from the corner of my eye. “Thank you, Lady Cecilie.”

 

The blonde woman smiled and turned toward me. “Who is this?” she asked aloud.

 

“I’m Y-“ I started to say.

 

Suddenly, I was pulled into a suffocating hug. “Yuuri, darling. It’s been too, too long! You’ve gotten so handsome! How is Shoma? You’re grandmother keeps nagging me to get in touch with him, but it’s like all of you disappeared! But why are you here? I thought you lost your memories. Did Shoma lie to me? Oh, what a cruel man your father is!”

 

“Mother, you’re...um...hurting him,” Conrad said, smiling.

 

“Oh!” the tight grasp was removed and I could breathe properly again.

 

“Lady Cecilie, is Wolfram in his room?” Elizabeth asked.

 

“Yes. Poor Wolfie hasn’t been able to get out of bed,” Lady Cecilie said with a distressed look appearing on her face.

 

“Is-“ Elizabeth was started to say, but was cut off by a man’s voice.

 

“I don’t care what you say you were trying to do! Your actions were unacceptable! Because of you, no one trusts this family anymore!”

 

The source of the voice stormed into the room with a blonde chasing after him. A black-haired man chased after them both, but all three of them stopped when they saw us. The man who had yelled was the same man I saw Miss von Karbelnikoff dragging off when I toured the school. She called him Gwendal. Gwendal! This is Mei’s oldest brother! He does look kind of the same from the pictures, but the grimace fixated on his face was much more noticeable. The moment his eyes landed on me, his eyes narrowed.

 

“Who’s the kid?” he asked in a gruff voice.

 

“It’s Yuuri, Gwendal! You remember little Yuuri, don’t you?” Lady Cecilie exclaimed.

 

He said nothing, but the blonde man rushed forward. “Yuuri Shibuya! It’s a shame to say this is my first time meeting you. My sister has spoken strongly of your family. I-” he was cut off my Gwendal firm hand pressing on his shoulder.

 

“The boy doesn’t need to meet someone like you,” he grumbled, pushing the blonde man past us and toward the front door.

 

The man with the black hair started after the two, but was held back by Lady Cecilie. “Raven, feel free to visit me any time.”

 

“I will, my lady,” Raven said, gently taking her hands off of him and following after the blonde man.

 

A finger tapped on my shoulder and I turned to discover it was Conrad. “You two should go up and visit Wolfram.”

 

We past Lady Cecilie and walked up the giant set of steps before us. Why do stairs need to be so grand in big houses? At the top of the stairs, I caught sight of a blonde who looked a lot like Wolfram. He soon caught sight of us. Elizabeth rushed over to him with a smile on her face.

 

“So you have come to visit. Wolfram wouldn’t answer me when I asked,” Elizabeth said.

 

“Well, we all know my nephew isn’t very fond of me. Neither is Meiline. I only smiled at her the other day and she glared back so maliciously. I don’t know what I ever did to those two to make them hate me so,” the Wolfram look alike said.

 

“I can think of a few,” Elizabeth replied.

 

“Miss Elizabeth, are you accusing me of doing wrong to my niece and nephew?” the Wolfram look alike asked, trying to sound appalled.

 

“There is a difference between accusing and stating the truth, Shinou,” Elizabeth replied.

 

Shinou? This is Shinou. “Excuse me. Are you Shinou?” I asked, causing them both to glance in my direction.

 

“Yes, Mr. Yuuri Shibuya. I am Shinou,” he replied.

 

“Why did you...” I started to ask.

 

“Oh! Would you look at the time! I have so many things to do. Sorry, Mr. Shibuya. Maybe another time,” Shinou interrupted.

 

The Wolfram look alike dashed down the stairs and passed his sister without a muttering a single word to her. Wolfram’s uncle is this Shinou guy. That still doesn’t help as to why he wanted me to go to Julia Academy.

 

Elizabeth pulled on my sleeve and dragged me down the hallway opposite where Shinou came from. There were many exquisite tapestries hanging on the wall of knights, battles, castles, gardens, and royal families. Two tapestries caught my eye. One looked like Shinou and the other was a Japanese man who reminded me of Murata for some reason. Elizabeth caught me staring at them.

 

“That Shinou’s great, great grandfather and the first king of Shin Makoku. The painting beside him is who you might call his right hand man. They called him the Great Wise Man. The funny thing is that no one ever knew his name. He’s the reason why our country’s noble color is black. To anyone, they seemed like the best of friends, but there were rumors they really didn’t like each other at all. They were curious men,” she informed.

 

We continued to the door at the very end of the hallway. I watched as Elizabeth knocked lightly on the door, but there was no answer. Instead of turning away, she proceeded to open the door and walk through the doorway. I followed after her into the dark room. She turned on the light switch and the room filled with light. My jaw instantly dropped. This was a bedroom! There was a fireplace with several sofas placed in front of it.  One whole wall was taken up with bookshelves filled with volumes in several different languages. There was a desk that looked unused and a set of double doors. One door was propped open and you could see a bathroom. One thing stood out amongst everything else and looked like it didn’t belong. In the corner of the room, a small art studio was set up with several canvases laying in disheveled piles. There was even paint splattered on the walls. I smiled when thinking of what the perfect Wolfram would look like with paint splattered clothes. It surprisingly suits him. I then turned my attention to the four poster double bed with velvet, emerald green curtains draped lazily around the bed from the canopy. From the distance I stood from, I could make out the blonde of Wolfram’s hair.

 

“Wolfram,” Elizabeth whispered in his ear as I walked toward the bed.

 

She brushed her fingers through his tangled blonde waves and placed her hand against his forehead. She frowned. His fever must be high. When I got close enough, I saw his flushed face and his breathing at a rapid pace. I felt so helpless seeing him like this. I wanted to do something, but what could I do? He probably has been taking medicine. Water? Food? Has he even eaten at all today?

 

“Where is the kitchen?” I asked.

 

“Why?” she replied.

 

“In case he wakes up and he’s hungry,” I replied, walking back toward the door.

 

“Oh! I can do it! You stay here in case he wakes up,” she said, rushing past me and closing the door behind her.

 

I walked back the bed. Why does he need such a huge bed for anyway? I sat on the edge on his bed beside him. He shifted a little and mumbled something. I slowly and carefully placed my hand on Wolfram’s forehead. It was very, very warm. Wolfram groaned and his eyelids fluttered open. I hastily removed my hand. His hazy eyes glanced around and finally fell on me.

 

“Yuuri?” he whispered in a hoarse voice.

 

“Hello. Um. How are you feeling?” I asked.

 

Without any warning, the blonde lunged at me and pushed me onto my back. He swung his right leg over me and straddled my hips. Panic mode kicked in when he leaned in toward me. I pushed him, but he grabbed my hands and pushed them above my head. A devious little smile materialized on his face as he moved closer. Just as I was about to call for help, Wolfram’s bedroom door swung open and Shinou stepped in. I thought he left. Never mind. I opened my mouth to yell at him for help, but my lips were assaulted with the soft lips of Wolfram. Shinou smiled at me, walked towards one of the bookshelves, removed a book, walked back to the door, waved at me, and left me there.

 

I felt Wolfram’s tongue enter my mouth as I struggled to free my hands. The blonde looked a lot weaker than he was. His golden waves tickled my face. His lips left mine and started kissing my neck. His kisses soon turned into sucking and it tickled. He released my neck with a small pop and he smiled at me again. He let go one of my hands and started pushing up my shirt with his free hand. Before he had the chance to realize his mistake, I pushed him off me and I fell off the bed. I stood up, darted out of the room, and passed Elizabeth in the hallway. She yelled something after me, but I ignored her and raced down the stairs with my eyes only on the door in front of me.

 

As I reached the bottom of the stairs, the door swung open. The redhead named Yozak was standing before me with someone thrown over his shoulder. The skirt she wore belonged to our school and the shoes looked familiar. Mei? Lady Cecilie entered the room with a smile on her face. Yozak started to move forward, but something stopped him. Mei was holding onto the sides of the doorway and refusing to let go. Yozak tugged on her a little, but she refused to let go.

 

“Let go of me!” Mei yelled.

 

“I will when you let go,” Yozak replied.

 

“No!” Mei shouted.

 

“Don’t you want to see your mother?” Yozak asked.

 

“Why the hell would I want to ever see her?” Mei grumbled.

 

“She’s your mother,” Yozak said.

 

“I don’t give a damn who she is!” Mei yelled, kicking her legs.

 

Yozak looked angry. “At least you have a mother, you brat!”

 

“I don’t want that slutty woman to be my mother! I want my father back!” Mei yelled.

 

I glanced over at Lady Cecilie. There were tears in her eyes. I knew Mei didn’t like her mother, but I couldn’t see any reason why she would hate her so much. So maybe she has trouble with keeping a single husband, but she seemed like a nice enough woman. I looked back over to the struggle going on in the doorway to find Yozak had finally got her inside the mansion, but she kept kicking her legs and flailing her arms. Yozak put her down and she started toward the door, but Lady Cecilie threw her arms around Mei before she could escape.

 

“Let go of me!” Mei shouted.

 

She started struggling with the iron grip of Lady Cecilie when she happened a glance in my direction and froze. Her face turned bright red and she looked away from me. The tears had finally escaped Lady Cecilie’s eyes. Mei gave up as her mother assaulted her with kisses. Her eyes connected with mine and she frowned.

 

“Yuuri, what happened to you?” Mei asked, causing everyone to look in my direction.

 

The better question was ‘What did I look like?’ I glanced down at myself and found several buttons had come undone and my shirt was wrinkly. I opened my mouth to explain, but running feet were approaching. I turned around to see Wolfram at the top of the stairs. His flushed face immediately turned pale. I see he has finally woke up.

 

“Wolfie!” Lady Cecilie called out, releasing Mei and running up the stairs toward Wolfram.

 

Before anyone could say anything more, I darted out the door and I could hear Mei chasing after me. She called my name out many times in attempt to make me stop, but I just wanted to get away from there. It was crazy in there and part of me didn’t want Wolfam to stop. Why? I’m a guy! He’s a guy! _So. He’s your fiancé. It’s not uncommon in Shin Makoku. You learned that in history class the other day. Plus, he’s beautiful. Have you ever had someone that beautiful even look at you longer that two seconds?_ What? Who said that? _I’m you._ No. I wouldn’t think something like that. I like girls! _Sure. Go on and think that._ I will.

 

I lost track of where I was going. There was a park to my left. I turned and entered it. There were kids running around and playing games, but no one was on the swings. I sat down on one of the vacant seats and watched some of the kids. A little girl had fell down and was crying. A boy ran over to her and helped her up. She smiled at him and they raced over to the other children hand in hand.

 

“I sometimes wish I was that little again,” Mei said.

 

She must’ve found me and took the empty swing beside me while I was distracted with the children. She smiled at them.

 

“Why?” I asked.

 

“Many reasons,” she simply replied.

 

A silence hovered in the air where I kind of hoped she would continue. “They are?”

 

She stared at me for a little. “Everything was good back then. Dad was still alive. You hadn’t lost your memories yet. I hadn’t met James either.”

 

“James?” I asked, remembering her mention his name before.

 

She looked away from me and back to the children. “Have you ever been in love, Yuuri?”

 

“I don’t know. Why do you ask?” I replied.

 

“James was a guard in training. He was to be assigned to Wolfram once he was done. Something happened and he was murdered.” She paused. “He also loved me and I loved him very much.”

 

She looked at me with tears collecting in her eyes. “He was the only one that ever fully understood me. When we were little, not even you could.”

 

The tears freed themselves from her eyes and streamed down her face. “I don’t want you to... I don’t hate my family, Yuuri! I just don’t agree with how things worked in Shin Makoku! Innocent people died all the time with that stupid civil war! James wasn’t from our noble families! He was from theirs! He was that damn Saralegui’s cousin! And they killed him! They killed him!”

 

Her voice echoed in the air. I was at a loss for words. Death was something that seemed to follow Mei around like a dark cloud hanging over her head. She told me about her father a couple time. She also told me about the nanny she had, her dog, and the flowers she planted in the garden. All of those things died. She joked around and told me she was cursed, but I wonder if she was serious.

 

“I don’t want you to have anything to do with Shin Makoku, Yuuri. In fact, I’d rather you transfer out of Julia Academy right now. I don’t know what Shinou’s thinking, but my uncle is devious. I’m warning you Yuuri, don’t ever go to that country,” Mei mumbled.

 

What is happening in Shin Makoku?


	11. Mother Approves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STOP!!!! This is the third chapter in a multi-chapter update. If you are a new reader, please ignore this note. If you have already started reading this story, Chapter 9-13 have all been updated at the same time. Please make sure you start reading chapter 9 before you proceed.

**Wolfram’s POV**

 

It’s hot! Why is it so hot? Oh...I forgot. I’m sick. I wonder what Yuuri’s doing right now? Ugh! Why am I thinking about that wimp? Hmm... How do I face him? Humph! Why should I care? He’s my fiancé! I have the right to do whatever I please with him! Whatever I want... If my face could feel any hotter, it did. Why am I think of a wimp like that in such a way? He would never do that! I would have to force... Stop! I shouldn’t expect anything... Huh? Where did this sudden coolness come from? Wait. Where’d it go? I looked around for it and found an outline of someone beside me. Who is that?

 

“Yuuri?” I whispered. Am I dreaming?

 

“Hello. Um. How are you feeling?” he asked.

 

I must be dreaming. Wait. Where are you going, Yuuri? Why are you moving away? No! Yuuri! Come back! You won’t get away! I pounced on him. I won’t let him leave without letting me explain the kiss. I have to explain. I swung my right leg over him and straddled his hips. He looked really surprised. He really is a wimp. A cute wimp. Hmm... I never got the chance to get a good look at his face. He hasn’t changed very much from when we were younger. Have his eyes always been so black? They’re not cold. No. They’re filled with warmth. My eyes traveled to his lips. Yes. Those were warm, too. I don’t quite recall what they feel like, though. Were they firm or soft? Dry? Hmm... I leaned closer to him.

 

He pushed me. How dare he! He’s such a...wimp. Oh! Is he embarrassed? Hmm... I could fix that. I took hold of his hands and pushed them above his head. I smiled at the sight of his bright red face and inched closer to him. My bedroom door suddenly clicked open. Damn! Yuuri’s eyes darted to the door where my uncle stood. He opened his mouth so I took the opportunity and covered my mouth over his. His lips were soft. That’s kind of surprising. I licked his bottom lip and he gasped. More. I want more.

 

I forced my tongue inside his mouth and he instantly started squirming. It was starting to get difficult to hold his hands back. Why would I dream about Yuuri being such a huge task? Well, he is a wimp. Of course he’s going to be difficult, but I’ve never dreamed of him being so difficult. I left his lips reluctantly and attacked his neck instead. It was salty with sweat, but I didn’t mind it. Has anyone ever kissed those lips or this neck? Does this cheating wimp want anyone to? Grrr! He’s mine and I’ll let everyone know! A love bite should do it. Whoa! What was that? Did he just moan? I released his neck with a triumphant smile as I could clearly see my love mark.

 

I let go of one of his hands to free my right hand. I dragged my hand down his chest, unbuttoning the top buttons of his school shirt. I ignored the rest of the buttons since unbuttoning each one would be a hassle. It would be easier and faster just to push the shirt over his head. I reached the bottom of his shirt and started to push it up. Suddenly, Yuuri freed his other hand and pushed me off him. I scowled. What kind of dream is this? I watched him run from the room. A sigh escaped my lips. Did this mean something? Was it a bad omen? My dreams of Yuuri never turned out like this. I want to wake up now. Wake up!

 

“Oh, Wolfram! You’re awake. Are you hungry? The cook is making you something,” Elizabeth said, entering the room.

 

“Elizabeth? What are you doing here?” I asked.

 

“I came to visit you since you’re sick. Oh! Yuuri! He came, too, but you must know that. I wonder why he was running away from here so fast. Maybe he forgot he had something to do,” Elizabeth replied.

 

“What?” I shouted.

 

“I came to-“ Elizabeth started to repeat.

 

“I heard you!” I snapped, jumping up from my bed and darting to the door.

 

That wasn’t a dream! Elizabeth is never in my dreams. I pinched my arm hard. Please be a dream. In a few seconds, I reached the top of the stairs. Immediately, everyone turned their faces toward me, including Yuuri. He really was here and I...  I felt the blood drain from my face. I think I’m going to be sick. He’s your fiancé! Why are you acting like this? Humph. You’re turning into a wimp just like him.

 

“Wolfie!” mother called out, letting go of Meiline and running towards me.

 

What? Did I miss something? Why is Meiline here? Yuuri darted out of the front door while I was assaulted by my mother’s hug. Meiline ran after him after glancing at me with a curious expression. What just happened? Ugh. I want to go back to bed.

 

I detached myself from my mother and tried my best to walk back to my room, but it proved a difficult task as I swayed from one side of the hallway to the other. I had consciously assaulted Yuuri. Though, I did think I was dreaming. If I had continued... I blushed. I finally ran into the wall and collapsed to the floor. I leaned against the wall. What if I did continue? What would’ve happened?

 

“Wolfram, are you okay?” Elizabeth asked, walking towards me.

 

I looked up and shook my head at her. “ Could you just leave me alone for now?”

 

Her face scrunched up to an angry expression. “Did that Yuuri Shibuya do something?”

 

“No. I did,” I muttered.

 

The anger left her face. She nodded and left like I asked. I was left alone for about two minutes before Shinou stopped in front of me. I glared up at him. He had came in the room at that time. He could’ve stopped me. He sat down beside me and stared at the wall across from where we sat. I looked up to see what he was looking so intently at. The portraits of the Great Wise Man and the first king of Shin Makoku. He stared at those portraits a lot.

 

“You are very bold,” he finally said, chuckling.

 

“Humph.”

 

A smile spread across his face. “There’s nothing embarrassing about being young and in love.”

 

“What do you want?” I snapped.

 

“Can I not talk to my own nephew?” he asked.

 

“Talking with you is a pain,” I replied.

 

Shinou frowned. “Maybe I should withdrawal my offer to pay for the wedding.”

 

“Wedding?” I questioned.

 

“Yes. Once Cecilie realized who Yuuri was, she started planning. She thinks you should marry in the courtyard at the castle. I think a beach wedding would be more memorable. What do you think?” Shinou replied.

 

I buried my face in my hands. “Mother,” I grumbled.

 

“I think she approves,” Shinou said.

 

I want to punch him, but that action was quickly interrupted by me sneezing.

 

“You should go to bed or you won’t be able to see your future husband tomorrow,” Shinou said, patting my shoulder.

 

I glared at him again and waited for him to leave, but he didn’t. He even offered to carry me to my bed. Of course I refused. I immediately stood up and stormed to my room. Honestly, he’s the most infuriating man I ever met.

... ... ...

 

**Yuuri’s POV**

 

Hours had passed and Mei and I still sat in the park. She had finally calmed down and silently looked at her feet. The sun was almost gone and the air was starting to chill. The children had left about an hour ago. The sky had turned to a brilliant shade of orange. I noticed some teenagers wearing the uniform from my old school. One of them was on the baseball team with me. Ah! Misaki! Oh! He noticed me. He nudged the teenager beside him and pointed at me. The group turned and started heading towards Mei and me.

 

“I better go. I got some things to sort out,” Mei suddenly said.

 

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” I replied.

 

“Oh. What happened with you earlier. You never answered when I asked,” she said.

 

I said nothing, but heat rushed to my face. She said nothing, but I didn’t like the look she gave me. She waved goodbye to me before walking past the group coming towards me. Right. The guys. I wonder how the team is doing.

 

“Hey Yuuri! It’s been a while,” Misaki said.

 

“Yeah. How is everyone?” I asked.

 

“We’re fine. Everyone is a little upset that we lost one of our best players, though,” he replied.

 

I laughed nervously. “Yeah.”

 

“So, who was that girl?” he asked.

 

“Mei? She’s a childhood friend,” I replied.

 

“What were you two talking about?” he asked.

 

“Nothing in particular. Why?” I responded.

 

“I didn’t know you could speak another language,” he said.

 

“Oh. Yeah. It’s complicated,” I said.

 

“So, I heard you’re going to that new rich kid school,” he said.

 

“Um... Yeah. That’s also complicated,” I replied.

 

There was an awkwardness lingering in the air. I really wished Mei hadn’t left me here alone. It was too weird. Misaki was someone I hung out with, but it felt like I was talking to a complete stranger.

 

“You should hang out with us sometime. Don’t be a stranger just because you don’t go to school with us anymore,” Misaki said.

 

“Yeah. I planned to,” I replied.

 

“Okay. Well-“ he started.

 

“Yuuri!” Conrad’s voice called from behind me.

 

I turned around. “What is it, Conrad?”

 

“It can wait,” Conrad replied, looking past me.

 

I turned back to toward Misaki whose mouth was hanging open. “Misaki? Are you okay?”

 

“Y-Y-Yuuri. Th-that’s...how do you know a prince?” Misaki asked, his eyes widening.

 

“Prince? Oh! Conrad. Uh. It’s complicated,” I replied.

 

“Ah. We have to go. See you later, Yuuri,” he said and they left.

 

“Friends?” Conrad asked.

 

“Misaki was a teammate. I didn’t really know him much out of the baseball season,” I replied.

 

Conrad nodded and sat in the vacant swing beside me that Mei previously occupied. “How have you been?”

 

“Confused, a little panicked, and I’m not sure what to do,” I said, earning a concerned look from Conrad.

 

“Yuuri, if you mind me asking, what happened back there?” Conrad asked.

 

“I prefer not to talk about it,” I replied.

 

“Did Wolfram do something?” he asked.

 

I made no reply.

 

“I apologize about him. My little brother can be a handful,” Conrad said, smiling.

 

I shook my head. “No. Don’t worry about it.”

 

“It’s getting late. You should be getting home. Knowing your mother, she probably panicking about now,” Conrad said.

 

“Ah!” I yelled.

 

Conrad chuckled. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

 

“No. You don’t have to,” I replied.

 

“How is your mother?” he asked as we walked away from the park.

 

This is strange. Maybe today was just a dream. Maybe tomorrow I’ll wake up to find this whole thing a dream. I would’ve never learned I had lost memories and I’d still be at my old school. Yeah. Just a dream.


	12. Wolfram's Resolve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STOP!!!! This is the fourth chapter in a multi-chapter update. If you are a new reader, please ignore this note. If you have already started this story before, Chapters 9-13 have all been updated at the same time. Please start at chapter 9.

**Meiline’s POV**

 

What was I doing back at this house? I looked up at the building before proceeding through the front door. Everything was silent. I closed the door behind me and tiptoed to the stairs. Where was everybody? Maybe I could just leave and they won’t ever realize I was here. Yeah.

 

“That’s ridiculous!” I heard Gwendal’s shout.

 

“Now, now Gwendal. Calm down,” mother’s voice said.

 

So they are here. I slowly made my way to the living room doorway and peeked inside. Mother was sitting beside Gwendal on the sofa with a distraught look on her face. Judging by the way Gwendal looked, uncle Stoffel was here earlier. I hate that man the most. I pretended not to hear the next words coming from my mother and brother and walked toward the front door, but something stopped me. I turned around and looked at the stairs. Wolf. Is he alright? I sighed and walked up the stairs.

 

I glanced in both directions. Where was Wolfram’s room? He came from the left earlier. There were only four doors in that direction. Which one was it? I walked up to the door nearest me and knocked on it. No reply. I slowly opened it to find it to be an office. Not this one. I walked to the next door and knocked on it, but there wasn’t an answer again. This one was a spare bedroom. The third door turned out to be a linen closet. I turned to the last door at the very end of the hallway and walked toward it. When I reached the door, I raised my hand slowly and knocked on the door. I slightly hoped no answer would come, but...

 

“Enter,” Wolfram’s voice came from inside.

 

I slowly opened the door and found Wolfram sitting on his bed and staring out his window. I could tell he was expecting someone, but definitely not me. A maid? I could see the aggravation increasing in his eyes. He finally turned toward me and his eyes widened before turning into a glare.

 

“What do you want?” a chide voice snarled at me.

                                                                                                                     

“Mother wanted to see me,” I responded, ignoring his foul glare.

 

“And you came when asked?” Wolfram asked, shocked.

 

“Well...no. At first, Yozak found me,” I replied wearily.

 

A small smile crept upon the blonde’s face. “Serves you right.”

 

I rolled my eyes and walked over to his bed. “But I came back. I don’t need Yozak to go through the trouble again.”

 

He had silk sheets. My eye twitched. Of course his sheets were silk. Only the best for mother’s angel. Though, knowing him, he wouldn’t care the type of sheets he slept on. As long as they fulfilled their purpose and were comfortable enough, they were good. He probably did appreciate them, though. He never did refuse anything mother gave him. A small smile displayed on my face. He probably accepted them most likely because he was afraid how she would react if he did refuse. I sat on the farthest end of his bed. He was watching me curiously. Hmm... He’s more like a cat than an angel. I laughed to myself.

 

“What so funny?” he asked, scowling at me.

 

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I replied.

 

“So, if you’re here to visit mother, why are you in here with me?” he asked.

 

I thought back to mother and Gwendal on the couch. I didn’t want to interrupt them, especially when Gwendal was in a bad mood, but why did I come up here? True. I wouldn’t expect it if I were Wolfram, either. I haven’t been the nicest sister. It’s just... I just don’t know what to say to him. It wasn’t his fault James died. I know that, but... I was too harsh on him at that time. I want to apologize to him, but I don’t know how to bring about the topic. I only get angry when I think about it so there’s a chance I might snap at him. I don’t want to do that.

 

“No reason,” I decided upon. “Just rest. You have a lot of explaining to do to Yuuri tomorrow.”

 

Wolfram groaned. “What am I going to do?” he mumbled.

 

I’ve never seen him like this. Hmm... “He’s your fiancé, isn’t he?” I simply replied.

 

His eyes widened. “How? How did you..” he faltered.

 

“Matching rings,” I said, pointing at the ring dangling from a silver chain around Wolfram’s neck. “Plus, I saw it happen back then. You two were in the courtyard by mother’s flower garden.”

 

“You’ve been calling mother, mother,” Wolfram said, raising an eyebrow.

 

“As much as I don’t like it, she is my mother, isn’t she?” I replied, grimacing.

 

“It’s about time you admitted it,” Wolfram retorted.

 

“You and Yuuri think alike,” I suddenly said, changing the topic.

 

Wolfram tugged at the chain. “Huh?”

 

“Even though Yuuri lost his memories, he still wears his ring and it’s on a chain like yours. And didn’t you promise yourself back then that you would forget Yuuri? Yet, here you are, still wearing your ring. Strange,” I replied.

 

Wolfram blushed. “I did forget the wimp and I quit wearing the ring. I just happen to see Yuuri wearing his so I thought I should wear mine, too.”

 

“Right,” I said suspiciously and standing up.

 

“It’s true!* Are you insisting that I’m a liar?” Wolfram snarled as I made my way back to the door.

 

When I got to the door, I turned to face him. “I didn’t call you a liar. You’re putting words in my mouth. I’m only insinuating that actions, in this case facial expressions, speak louder than words.”

 

“I... y-y...uh... It’s that cheating wimp!” Wolfram shouted, blushing up to his ears.

 

“Thought so,” I muttered, leaving the room and closing the door behind me.

 

... ... ...

 

**Yuuri’s POV**

“Yuu-chan, where have you been?” mom asked as I opened the door.

 

“I...well...” I started, stepping aside to reveal Conrad standing behind me.

 

“Oh, my! It’s been a while! Come in! Come in!” mom shouted gleefully.

 

It seemed as though I was in luck. Hopefully, she’ll be distracted enough that she’ll completely forget about me staying out so late. After Conrad had passed her, she gave me a stern look and hurried after Conrad. Wrong.

 

“What brings you here?” mom asked.

 

Conrad glanced back at me. “I was just bringing Yuuri home from visiting my sick little brother.”

 

“Sick little brother? Is Wolf-chan sick? Poor thing. Is he alright?” mom asked.

 

“Uh. Well, he seems livelier since Yuuri’s visit,” Conrad replied, smiling.

 

“Oh! That’s good!” She smiled back. “Would you like some tea?”

 

“I would love some,” Conrad said as mom escorted him to the kitchen.

 

“I have homework so I’ll be doing that!” I shouted, running up the stairs.

 

Wolfram seemed livelier, huh? I blushed. What?

 

... ... ...

 

**Conrad’s POV**

 

Miko Shibuya placed a cup of tea in front of me. She hasn’t changed much since back then.

 

“Yuuri... does he remember much?” she suddenly asked.

 

“Well, I don’t know. He seemed to remember my name, but nothing else. He looked absolutely horrified of mother. I don’t blame him though. Her hugs can be fierce,” I replied, taking a sip of tea.

 

“Yes. How is your mother?” Miko asked.

 

“Um. Well... Things aren’t quite well in our country. We’re all afraid for her life so we’ve been sending her on trips all over the world. She thinks we are finally letting her go on her search for free love. She’s fine most days, but sometimes things come up that stress her out. We just hope to find a suitable heir soon,” I said.

 

“Haven’t all the nobles agreed upon Wolfram since Shinou declined?” she asked, sitting opposite me.

 

“Well, yes, but that’s only if Shinou can’t find someone he thinks is suitable. He just hasn’t said anything yet, but he’s been sneaking around Julia Academy for awhile now. Everyone is getting anxious,” I said, waiting for Miko to realize it.

 

She stared at me for a while before her eyes widened. “Yuu-chan!”

 

I nodded. “That’s what some of us believe.”

 

“My Yuu-chan as a king!” she exclaimed. “Is that allowed? He’s Japanese.”

 

“He might be Japanese, but he is descendent from a noble house. The nobles aren’t very happy about it except your mother-in-law. Most of them are wondering what Shinou is thinking, but we aren’t sure if it is Yuuri,” I replied.

 

Miko said nothing, but stared at the tea cup before me.

 

“Miko, if your son is chosen as king, will you let him?” I asked in a serious tone.

 

“I-“ she started.

 

“Did you call for me?” Yuuri said, entering the room.

 

“No. No. I was just...uh...” Miko started.

 

“She was just shocked to hear mother is planning your wedding,” I finished, saying the first thing that I thought of.

 

“My wedding?” Yuuri questioned.

 

Miko and Yuuri both looked at me curiously. “Mother is planning a wedding between Yuuri and Wolfram,” I said quietly.

 

Yuuri’s jaw dropped. “Ehh?”

 

“Splendid! I should call and help out. Does Wolfram look like he did when he was little? He would look beautiful in a wedding dress,” Miko replied, jumping up from her chair and rushing over to the phone.

 

I looked over at Yuuri to find he wasn’t there. Instead, he was sitting on the ground with a lost expression on his face. I was afraid of this. I sighed. Well, at least his reaction isn’t as bad as I expect Wolfram’s to be when he finds out.

 

... ... ...

 

**Wolfram’s POV**

 

The next day came faster than I wanted it to and my fever was gone so I didn’t have an excuse to stay home. I slowly walked down the stairs and entered the dining room to find my breakfast waiting for me. Mother and Conrad were already eating. Conrad didn’t get home until late last night. I wonder where he went. Where’s Gwendal? Did he go back to Shin Makoku already?

 

“Good morning,” Conrad said, smiling.

 

“Good morning,” I grumbled back.

 

In a few minutes, I would see Yuuri. What was I going to tell him?

 

“Wolfie. What color do you like better, plum or sapphire?” mother asked.

 

“Why?” I replied.

 

“I’m trying to come up with an idea of what colors to have in your wedding. Black is such an overused color. Yuuri will of course be wearing black, but I can’t decide. I think sapphire suits you better. We’ll go with sapphire,” mother replied.

 

I left the table without saying a word, grabbed my bag, and walked out the front door. How can she be thinking of us having a wedding right now? Before I knew it, I was already at the end of the road. I glanced down where Yuuri usually comes from. Good. He’s not there. I turned  in the other direction to come face to face with Yuuri, Meiline, and a Japanese teenager whose name escapes me. Meiline glanced at me and glanced over at Yuuri. Don’t you dare leave!

 

“Come on, Ken. I need to talk to you about that one thing that I can only talk to you at school about,” Meiline said to the Japanese teenager.

 

“Yes,” the Japanese teenager named Ken replied with a glint on his glasses and a weird smile on his face.

 

The two left and Yuuri and I were left alone. As soon as I glanced in his direction, he looked away from me. Well, this is just great. I am turning into a wimp just like the wimp. Hmph. If he won’t acknowledge anything happened out in the open, why should I? I maneuvered around him and started walking toward school.

 

“Um...” I heard Yuuri say.

 

I stopped and turned around. “What?”

 

“I-is it true about your mom?” he asked.

 

Huh? “Is what true?” I growled.

 

“Is she really planning a wedding for us?” he asked, blushing slightly.

 

I turned back around and sighed. “Yeah. She’s always known about the rings and... when you came over yesterday, she...”

 

“Mom’s already got a dress picked out for you,” he mumbled.

 

I felt a chill and turned back around to face him. “Why am I wearing the dress?” I snapped.

 

Yuuri shrugged and started laughing.

 

“What’s so funny?” I grumbled.

 

“I’m just glad it’s not me she’s trying to force the dress on. Usually, she’ll buy the frilliest, laciest thing she can find and she’ll try to force it on me,” he replied.

 

“Frills and lace. Ugh. That’s horrible,” I said, trying to image Yuuri wearing a dress. Strangely, it wasn’t that hard.

 

“Mom wants you to come over so she can take your measurements,” Yuuri said as we started walking to school.

 

“Even if I don’t come over, mother will gladly send them to her,” I replied, thinking back at breakfast.

 

Yuuri smiled. He’s acting like nothing happened yesterday. Maybe that’s for the best. Though, it hurts a little that he would act like that. Yuuri, what are you thinking?


	13. Dance With Me Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STOP!!!! This is the fifth and final chapter of a multi-chapter update. If you are a new reader, please ignore this note. If you have already started this story before, Chapter 9-13 have all been updated at the same time. Please start at Chapter 9.

**Yuuri's POV**

 

Students were scattered everywhere. Excited chatter filled the air and students clogged the hallways where flyers were placed on the wall. I hadn't had the chance to see one of them yet. I stood on my toes and tried to read above heads, but it was impossible. I glanced to see if anyone I knew from my class was closer. There wasn't. The bell rang and the crowd reluctantly dispersed. I walked up to the flyer and read it.

 

"A dance?" I questioned aloud.

 

"Is that what the girls were talking about?" Wolfram asked, appearing beside me.

 

I glanced sideways at him to see him staring at the flyer. Recently, my relationship with Wolfram is good. For a couple of weeks after that incident, it was awkward. He had talked to me more than before, but his words sometimes muddled together and any insult he tried to throw at me failed with him blushing bright red in the end. Some days he wouldn't even look at me. It's obvious he realized what he had done, but he pretends nothing happened. I'm not sure how a guy could k-k-k...do that and pretend nothing happened. About a week ago, he suddenly changed completely. I never thought Wolfram could talk so much. I didn't think he was the type. The awkwardness appears to be gone, but for some reason, I can't forget the feeling of his lips on mine. I wouldn't dare tell him since we are finally starting to act like friends. Why would I even tell him at all?

 

"Are you going to go?" I asked curiously as we walked to our classroom.

 

He shrugged. "I'll go if I feel like it."

 

"I've never been to a dance before," I admitted.

 

"Never? Did they not have dances at your old school?" Wolfram asked.

 

I shook my head.* "Are they common in Shin Makoku?"

 

We entered the classroom and before Wolfram had the chance to answer, a swarm of girls surrounded us. They were all shouting so I couldn't understand anything any of them said. I tired looking over their heads so I could find my seat and try to push towards it, but there was another swarm over there where Sara sat. All the boys in the classroom were sitting in their seats with disgruntled looks on their faces while others looked sad.

 

"Yuuri, please go to the dance with me?" a brunette asked, shoving her way to me.

 

I glanced over at Wolfram and he was giving me a look that dared me to accept her request. "Uh. Sorry. I've got other plans that night," I replied, making several girls frown.

 

I looked over at Wolfram again. The glare was gone and he was currently politely declining everyone while flashing a charming smile. This brings me to speak of another change in Wolfram. This is one change that I'm not very fond of. He keeps insisting that we are actually engaged. He'll only mention it every once in a while in a whisper whenever he starts to do something I don't like. For example, he followed me into the restroom and glared at anyone who came through the door. Three days ago, he asked some of his girl posse to watch after me so I constantly have four girls trailing after me at all times. Where were they today? They were busy swooning over Wolfram and trying to get him to go to the dance with them. He also uses the fiancé thing when he shouts at me when I do something he doesn't like. When I told Wolfram I didn't need his personal guard of girls, he accused me that I was hiding something and that I must be a cheater. Before he could say anything else to me, Murata stepped in. That didn't stop him from calling me a cheater several more times that day.

 

"Alright everyone! Please sit down," Mr. von Christ said, entering the classroom. "Except you two," he continued, pointing to Wolfram and me.

 

"Is something wrong, Günter?" Wolfram asked as I noticed the rare, yet distinct frown on Mr. von Christ's face.

 

"You're wanted in the headmaster's office. You're uncle is waiting," he replied.

 

Stoffel? Wolfram had told me about him. It was one of the major topics he would talk about. While talking about it, he would wear an expression that was so deadly that he looked as though he could spit acid or breath fire. I'm still not sure what the extent of what Stoffel did was, but it sounded bad. I slowly started to inch away from Wolfram.

 

"Uncle Waltrona? What is he doing here?" Wolfram asked. Waltrona? Who's that?

 

"I...don't know," he replied, but glanced over at me with a gloomy expression.

... ... ...

"Who is Waltrona?" I asked as we walked down the hallway.

 

"Lord Waltrona von Bielefeld. He's the head of the Bielefeld noble family and my father's brother," Wolfram answered with a hint of pride in his voice.

 

A list of questions rushed to my mind, but I somehow got the feeling Wolfram didn't talk about his father's side of the family much. Who was his father? I had the urge to ask him about it, but it felt like a forbidden subject. Instead, we continued our journey to the headmaster's office. I had finally started getting used to this labyrinth of a school. Maybe it was because I only ever walked through the high school section.

 

We turned the corner and Mr. von Wincott's office door came into view. However, before we reached it, the door was threw open and Wolfram's oldest brother stormed from the door. He walked towards us with a glare displayed on his face. It must be permanently stuck like that. He passed by us without saying a word to his younger brother. I stopped and turned around to watch Gwendal disappear. Why was he here? Was this a family thing I was imposing on? If it was, why was I asked to the office? Wolfram and I aren't married so we're not family. Wait. Is that what it is? After I spent so much time convincing my mom to let it go, her and Wolfram's mom finally dropped it. Did they trick me and start planning again? Is that why Wolfram keeps insisting he's my fiancé? Maybe I'm just over-thinking. Wolfram's uncle probably just didn't get the memo that the wedding was canceled.

 

"Yuuri, you wimp! What are you doing?" Wolfram called at me from farther down the hallway.

 

"I'm coming!" I called back, running to meet him outside the office doors.

 

Wolfram raised his hand to knock on the door, but it opened and came close to smacking Wolfram on the head. He lost his balance and stumbled backward which resulted in him falling on top of me. I looked at the doorway and saw a blonde man standing there, glaring down at the two of us. He had bright blue eyes, but they seemed cold, very cold and his expression showed that he clearly thought us being on the floor was unacceptable. He looked like a man that held high priorities. His frowned deepened as Wolfram sat up and pushed himself off of me.

 

"Uncle! How are you?" Wolfram asked, showing no concern for the object he fell on, me.

 

The blond man stared at Wolfram, scowled at me, and returned his gaze to Wolfram. "Not very well at the present time, nephew."

 

I saw Wolfram's head twitch slightly in my direction. "Is there a problem in Shin Makoku?"

 

"When is there never a problem in Shin Makoku? There are several, but those aren't what is bothering me. No. What is bothering me is that good-for-nothing uncle of yours. The rest of the heads of the noble houses and I are becoming restless. _That_ man has yet to give us even a hint to what he's planning. It's preposterous! I'm starting to believe he's just playing around in this country and wasting our time," Wolfram's uncle replied.

 

"Come now, Waltrona. You have to learn about patience. You're complaining is making the Bielefeld house look bad. I would not stand for it if you were from my noble house," an elderly woman's voice said in a strict tone from within the office.

 

The voice was new to my ears, but it seemed familiar at the same time. Where had I heard it before? Wolfram's uncle scowled before turning around and entering the office. Wolfram quickly followed him after glancing back at me. I stood up, brushed the nonexistent dirt (the floors are always so clean) off my pants, and followed after both of them. As I entered the room, I noticed there was an elderly woman with grey hair and kind, yet strict blue eyes sitting in the headmaster's chair. I glanced around to find that Mr. von Wincott wasn't present.

 

"Yuuri," the elderly woman said in a kinder tone that what she used before.

 

I turned toward her. "Hello."

 

"Hello again, dear child. I heard from your father that you are starting to regain your memories. I thought I would visit and see for myself how you were doing. With that expression on your face, you clearly don't remember me yet, do you? I am..."

 

"Grandmother Shibuya," I finished without thinking. Yes. I remember those eyes. This was my father's mother. The woman my mom wasn't particularly fond of. The woman who wished father would've married Wolfram's mother.

 

She smiled and glanced over at Wolfram. "It's nice to see you boys together. It's a shame Meiline is feeling under the weather. I would've liked to see her, too. I haven't seen the poor dear in years."

 

" _That girl_ is a disgrace! She tried to soil the Bielefeld family name!" Waltrona suddenly yelled.

 

The kindness in my grandmother's eyes vanished in an instant. "You are gravely mistaken! All the girl ever did was fall in love! And that poor boy died in the process in protecting your precious nephew! The poor girl was upset! It may not have been the best choice to take it out on him, but you know very well she would _never_ to do such a thing to her little brother!"

 

A silence filled the air. My eyes traveled to Wolfram. He was staring at the floor with a sullen expression on his face. I opened my mouth to say something to him, but he picked that exact moment to storm from the room. I thought nothing of the two adults in the room and chased after him.

**... ... ...**

**Grandmother Shibuya's POV**

 

"Why did you have to bring her up?" Waltrona asked, glaring at me.

 

"It's about time those two started acting like siblings again. She said some things out of anger, but it's nothing that should've broken up the good relationship those two had. You knew they weren't just siblings, they were each other's best friend," I answered, my patience growing very thin with him.

 

"You've only accomplished in making him upset," Waltrona snapped.

 

"If I'm not mistaken, I was only saying that I wished to see her. You were the one who called her a disgrace," I said, holding in the hate that boiled beneath my skin.

 

He made no reply. Good. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. My old heart won't be able to handle being around him much more.

 

"It seems my grandchild cares for your nephew," I said quietly.

 

"It doesn't mean he gained my consent to marry Wolfram or become king even if that is Shinou's wish," he replied, leaving the office.

 

I sighed. Sometimes that young man just needs to be slapped in the face! I would gladly do it, but I would rather not waste my effort on such a man. He seems to be the only one left to bears a grudge against Meiline. It infuriates me how much he cares over his own name than his family. Meiline isn't even blood related to him. Though, people say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I do agree that Meiline and Cecilie both have made grave mistakes in their lives, but it's only because of this cruel world.

 

"Aunt Amelia?" Delchias's voice said, entering his office.

 

"Yes?" I asked.

 

"You're speaking your thoughts aloud again," he replied, slightly smiling.

 

"Oh! Well, what I said never leaves this office," I said, slightly embarrassed.

 

"Yes, Aunt Amelia," he replied.

**... ... ...**

**Wolfram's POV**

 

Why does everyone always have to mention that? They're always trying to make Mei out to be the bad guy. If I hadn't... It's my fault. She's not... She only let her emotions take over. I don't blame her for anything.

 

"Wolfram!" Yuuri called after me.

 

Great! Now, the wimp is going to ask all sorts of questions just because Mei was brought up.

 

"Wolfram! Wait up!" he continued to call.

 

I stopped. What's the use of walking away from a situation if someone is going to chase after you? The stupid, persistent wimp wasn't going to leave me alone, was he? Ahh! Why is that he has the nerve to ignore me, but the minute my sister's name is mentioned, he acts so damn worried? Ahh! It's so infuriating!

 

"What happened back there? Yuuri asked.

 

"It's nothing to worry about! The past is in the past! It's best to keep it that way!" I yelled, turning to walk away.

 

"Do you really believe that?" he asked.

 

I stopped. "Some things should be forgotten. It's different from you. You, unlike him, are alive," I whispered.

 

"Him?" Yuuri questioned.

 

"He was a guard in training that was supposed to protect me in the future. Things got confusing and half of my guards were taken away from me. He soon became part of my guard without completing his training. Mother made a senseless order that Stoffel suggested and things took a turn for the worst. I can't say any more. Meiline would be a better person to ask if you don't mind her getting angry with you," I replied before walking away.

 

There was a moment's silence as I retreated down the hallway. I didn't dare turn around to see what kind of expression Yuuri had. I didn't want to know. I didn't want to see his face at that moment.

 

"Hey Wolfram!" Yuuri called, his voice echoing in the hall.

 

"What?" I snapped, glaring back at him.

 

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?" he asked.

 

"Huh?" I replied, wondering what was wrong with the wimp while feeling the blush on my face.

 

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?" he repeated.

 

"W-w-why would I g-go with a w-wimp like you?" I replied.

 

He shrugged. "I thought it might cheer you up a little."

 

I turned away from him. "Do whatever you want," I said.

 

"Huh? Wolfram, what does that mean? Is that a yes?" Yuuri called after me.

 

"Wimp. He probably doesn't even realize," I muttered, hoping he couldn't see how red my face was from this distance.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Reviews are always appreciated and kudos are fantastic! If ya'll have any questions, please ask me on my tumblr if you can. It's almostlover321.tumblr.com.


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